A Certain Magician's Story
by taovkool
Summary: After Kamijou Touma's miraculous survival from the Star of Bethlehem. An incident in the magic world shall set the world apart. This time a new hero will discover the secrets. Set between Volume 22 and NT 1.
1. Survival

**My first fanfic... Yay! This is the first time I actually write something in the internet (except for class assignments and facebooks and twitter and... you get the idea) so forgive me if there's some kind of mistakes or if you don't like the story.**** So without further ado... Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 1: Yet Another Calm Before the Storms._ Survival_

* * *

A spiky haired boy named Kamijou Touma and a blond man with a suit was currently in a hospital room. But unlike the usual hospital room (that the boy frequently visits), this was a cheap, low class hospital room that doesn't seem adequate to nurse an esper from Academy City. but the boy doesn't seem to be concerned about that.

"Seriously, for someone who's always yelling about misfortune and the like, you're really lucky you only got a few bruises and shock."

"Don't remind me…Urgh...My head is still dizzy. I can't feel my legs. Is this really luck?."

"Calm down, don't strain your body so much. It would take a while for you to make a full recovery. "

"...Why the concern? Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm thankful you guys rescued me from the Arctic, but you don't look much like a guy who would care about my well-being and just throw me out somewhere."

"How rude, I might have no obligation to look after you. But, the boss would be disappointed if you're not in your best state to deal with the current situation and ended up being useless."

"In short, Birdway told you to look after me."

"...yes."

"Is Index okay? Where's Birdway right now? "

"Index Librorum Prohibitorum is fine, she's currently with the English Anglicans, you don't need to be worried about her. While my boss is currently on her private business someplace else."

"Does that have something to do with this 'current situation'? What's going on anyway? Is there some kind of a trouble?"

"Full of questions, aren't you? Well, we don't really know for sure what's going on right now, but there's definitely a problem. With several countries recovering from World War III, there are bound to be people trying to make a profit from the war recovery. But there are some magic cabals in Europe who are currently doing some… strange activities."

"Strange activities?"

"I think it would be best if you hear it directly from my boss. Just rest for now. You've been through a lot."

With the blond man leaving the room. The spiky haired boy thought about Fiamma that he defeated in a flying fortress, Index that he had saved from Fiamma, Lessar that fought alongside him in Russia, and Misaka Mikoto who tried to save him from the falling for... Wait a minute, what was Misaka doing in Russia? Did she get into some kind of trouble again? Speaking of trouble, what is going on in Europe? How does Birdway get involved in that? Birdway must have saved him for some kind of reason, right? Does that have something to do with that 'problem' in Europe?

_Somehow I just know that whatever it is going on with the magic cabals in Europe, I am going to get caught in the middle._

With these thoughts in mind, he made a small sigh and silently muttered to himself.

"…Such Misfortune."

* * *

_Prague, Czech Republic_

Leivinia Birdway, a 12 years old girl and the leader of 'Dawn Colored Sunlight", is currently inside an abandoned warehouse with her subordinates. But for some reason she showed an annoyed look on her face.

She was supposed to meet a certain 'specialist' she has paid to investigate _'their'_ presence in the Eastern Europe.

But instead, she found a number of corpse scattered inside the building.

Based on the spiritual items and divine charms that was lying around in the building, an expert magician like Birdway can tell that these corpses are indeed magicians with a very high level of skill.

"So... 'they' sent an elite group of magicians to dispose of him, eh? That bastard must have gone from this place then." Birdway scowled. "Search this place. Find anything that could help identify who these people are. Watch out for traps or rune mines, considering who we're dealing with, it wouldn't surprise me if one of them could blow this whole place off."

With that short order. Birdway's subordinate quickly spread throughtout the entire block. With nothing better to do, Birdway made a quick glance at the remains of the magicians.

Suddenly, Birdway noticed something odd with the magicians's remains.

There was something completely wrong with them.

As soon as Birdway noticed this strange phenomena she quickly checked every single magicians that lies dead in the warehouse, and she found out that the strange phenomena existed in all the corpses in the warehouse.

If it was only one or two of them she would only made a simple shrug and ignore them, but they exist within a vital part of every magician and therefore the cause of their deaths..

It was bullet wounds.

Magicians are creatures wielding the power of the supernatural and because of that conventional methods like guns would make very little effect and has very low chance of actually hurting or killing them.

_But these people were killed using that conventional method._

She investigated the bullets and found out that they're just a normal 10mm bullets that a person who lived in the dark side of the world could easily obtain.

The fact that each of them was killed with one bullet doesn't help explain it either.

Defeating small numbers of magicians using weapons like pistols or automatic rifles are not entirely impossible using good tactics like surprise attack or a perfect proficiency with guns or firearms.

But defeating... no... utterly annihilating a group of 20 elite magical assassins with normal firearms is an equal feat with a normal person defeating a saint.

"I knew it. That guy was way too suspicious, even for a magician!" Birdway growled.

While still pondering about a certain person that should have been her informant and her candidate of torture, one of her subordinates shouted at her "Boss, I've found something. you're going to want to see this."

"Hmm... let's see... a mark of _Candarli_? These guys are assassins that bears the signs of _Khodavandgar_ - the God-like One."

"Janissaries. A group of elite Ottomans soldiers that was destroyed 200 years ago in the failed coup in Constantinople."

"Ah, yes, partly because it was their actions that caused the decline of their country. Most likely, the assassins we're seeing right now are members of the magic cabal those janissaries founded after being exiled from their homeland."

"_Casmali Sofa - _Hall of the Fountain_"_

"Meh, that doesn't really matter though" She shrugged "They're just another prideful bastards that's trying to claim their old glory for some stupid reasons I don't even care to know. There's also something strange about them though."

"?"

"Why did they send all their members just to take down a lone magician?"

"Urrm, Isn't it because you made an exchange with him? Maybe there's some valuable information he's carrying."

"Maybe, but that doesn't explain why an entire magic cabal would risk destroying themselves by operating so openly with their magic just to stop a single informant."

"You're right, it doesn't make sense. Even if there are valuable information he's carrying, there are lots of ways to dispose a magician without involving the entire member of the magic cabal, they could just sent one or two of their strongest magicians to trap him or hire mercenaries that's strong enough to deal with him. Why take the risk? Besides, it's...Eh?"

While the subordinate was narrating his long story hypothesis, Birdway made her unusually scary 'this is starting to get really interesting' face and emanate a full dark aura that quickly made a shiver in the poor subordinate's body and put a full stop on his narration.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing! There's nothing wrong!"

"Uh huh..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Somehow, I got this strange feeling that I want to cut you up right now."

_Dammit! I have to change the conversation! Otherwise my head is going to fall over my neck!_

"Oh yeah! Speaking of which what about the informant? Do you think he survived the attack?"

"Most likely, considering what happened here and the weight of the information he's carrying, he must be skillful enough that surviving this kind of ambush is a walk in the park." answered Birdway while making a slight bored gesture

The subordinate made a quick sigh of relief on his success on escaping a mortal danger, followed by a quick questioning frown. His boss is not the type of person that would easily compliment other people's skills or abilities. There are only several individuals in this world that Birdway acknowledge as her equal in strength (She never admit anyone stronger than she is), and they're all monsters beyond his capabilities.

"Who exactly is this informant, Boss?

"Just some stray magician I accidentically met... Dammit, that spiky-haired boy must have been infecting me with his misfortune."

"Do you have any way to contact him?"

"Do you really think I know him well enough to exchange phone number? Right now, we have no choice but to hunt him down right now."

"_Hunt_ him? isn't the informant on our side?"

"Not exactly, he's just a stray magician that annoys me every time... Actually, the thought of him being in our side kinda pisses me off, after what he put me through. He is definitely going to pay."

Part of what she had said harbors a very deep grudge and a small tone of irritation, but it's enough to scare the subordinate out of his mind again.

Meanwhile, some kind of switch seemed to have gotten flipped within Birdway, and she continued to speak to herself.

"Heh heh, Today's my lucky day, after I beat him to crap, it seems I'm going to use that new torture device that I just bought on the internet, Heh heh heh heh heh."

_Which part of the internet did you snatch that kind of stuff from?_ With this thought in mind and instinct to stay alive, the subordinate made a mental note to warn Mark Space about Birdway's misuse of internet.

* * *

Meanwhile, I, a random magnificent and handsome blond teenager, am currently walking down a dark alley that was very suitable to be a homicide crime scene. I looked down on my fancy brown jacket and shirt and I found that I was drenched with sweat and my outfit were messy. In other words, instead of a cool and stylish teenager. I looked like a cool and stylish teenager that managed to get away from the delinquents that were chasing him.

Sadly, the ones chasing me are much more deadlier than delinquents.

"What the hell just happened?"

Slowly staggering and leaning into the nearest wall in the alley, I've come to realize that that those guys' are gone, for now at least...

And by 'those guys' I meant 'a group of blood-hungry magicians trying to cut and blow me to bits with their damn runic scimitar/sword-like wands while laughing and grinning like a freakin' villain from a low quality anime.

That was a pretty long description for 'those guys', wasn't it?

Speaking of which, WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THOSE STAFF? THEY SHOOT EXPLODING THING-A-MAGIC DAMMIT! IS THE AUTHOR TRYING TO KILL ME BEFORE I EVEN MAKE AN APPEARANCE? IS THAT FUCKING AMATEUR THINKS HE CAN MESS WITH ME EVEN IN HIS OWN IMAGINATION? IF THIS IS HOW CRAPPY HE WRITES NONE OF YOU READERS SHOULD GIVE HIM A GODDAMN REVIEW!

Alright, alright... calm down, calm down...play my role, play my role...

Okay, instead of just lashing out on some imaginary people, let me just think for a second.

_How the heck did I ended up in this mess?_

Okay maybe a little recap of my life is in order...

A month ago, during World War III, I was stuck in an abandoned island in Eastern Russia, trying to survive an army of undeads and monsters made by some kind of freak mutations from a certain element's radiation that... I know, I know, It's a long story of it's own.

Then, I was facing off against a golden arm that was suddenly appearing on the ocean while trying to save an innocent little girl from a giant mass explosions.

Then, the so called 'innocent girl' was actually a loli majin with a ridiculous eyepatch that was so amusingly annoying. Feeling grateful, she decided to beat the crap out of me and leave my body completely intact (thank god for that) in the bottom of the ocean (now that's just sucks).

Then, I was found by a passing British battleship, and they took good care of me by imprisoning and torturing me in cold blood because, due to some circumstances, those fools thought I was a goddamn Russian agent.

Then, after I forcefully broke out of the battleship, repaying the debt to my saviors by sinking the entire ship and beating the crap out of the soldiers inside, I stole a chopper and used it to get me into New York. Where, hopefully, I will somehow get away from all of this mess considering that America has steered clear out of this war. Unsurprisingly, that didn't happen... Why? Because those guys put a bomb in the helicopter and I was sunk back into the ocean...

Then, I got... myself into... another... life-or-death mess...

GAHHHHH! Stop thinking desperate and gloomy thoughts! Just think! After all those unfortunate incident I'm still alive right? This means that even though I was struck by an unreasonable amount of trouble, I'm definitely going to pull through, Right?_  
_

...Right?

"Somehow I got this strange feeling that I'm gonna die young."

"That's just one of the perks in this business, kid"

Huh? Taking a glance at the source of that irritating and badly accented English, I found a bearded middle-aged guy with an attire that doesn't fit to be worn in a back alley like this. Unlike my perfectly delinquent-like outfit of jacket, shirt, and jeans. This man wears a suit while holding something that looks like a sword.

Sword? Oh, crap.

There is only one possibility on who this annoying old man is.

Magicians.

I've decided to make a silent prayer.

GOD PLEASE LET HIM BE AN OLD MAN WITH SWORD ADDICTION THAT LIKES TO COLLECT ALL KINDS OF SWORDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD EVEN THOUGH HE JUST PUT THEM ON DISPLAY AND WASTE A HELL LOT OF MONEY THAN I COULD SPEND FOR A YEAR AND NOT ANOTHER MAGICIAN THAT WANTS TO KILL ME!

"This is for my comrades you just killed, die kid."

Huh? Comrades? Ah, the ones in the warehouse back then. Wait a minute, Killed? I did shot them in their vitals, but the special bullets I used won't kill them. It'll just knock them out cold. It's a Non-Lethal Bullet I made using combination of rune magic and science.

I know. I'm a genius. But that's not the point right now.

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down a sec, what the hell are-"

Of course he didn't listen and started swinging that sword in front of me. There must have been some kind of spell embedded in the sword because the wall behind where I was standing suddenly ruptured in explosion.

Thank God I'm good at dodging.

"Geh! Listen to me for a sec will ya!"

"It is foolish to listen to an enemy in a battlefield"

Perfectly logical.

Dammit, I can't fight when I used up all of my magic. Plus, I wasted too much ammo on those guys in the warehouse. I need a recharge pronto. Better try to talk my way out of this.

"So in the end, it always comes down to a fight, eh?"

"That is how it usually happens in this line of work."

"Can we at least have some sort of an agreement?"

"We can if you can afford twice the amount my employers are paying me, judging by your meager appearance and your crying face when I mentioned 'twice the amount', I think you can't."

...This is an unfair world.

"Enough talk, hurry up and die so I can get the money and buy myself a new suit."

THIS IS A REALLY UNREASONABLE AND UNFAIR WORLD!

"Dammit! This is getting physically and mentally painful!"

"You won't get away"

With a blast in the background of the street of Prague. I run with all my might.

* * *

_Somewhere in a Military Base Occupied by Academy City Forces in Russia_

"How was it?"

"It's going well at least, They finally agreed on our terms. Negotiating with the higher ups is always a pain."

Right now, the Number 1 of Academy City, Accelerator, and the negative side of network of clones made from Number 3, Misaka WORST, are passing their time in a waiting room in a building somewhere in the military base.

They have finished the negotiation with the Board of Directors, The Leaders of Academy City, that force the disbanding of the dark side of the city.

"You call it a negotiation, but Misaka couldn't help but notice that it was more of a... forced agreement."

"So? You have any problems with that, you shitty clone?"

"Hah! Of course not! Doing things by force is Misaka's style after all!"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Come to think of it where is Last Order? Could it be they were holding her hostage again? Uoh! This could be a chance for Misaka to get into another bloody bloodbath she's been expecting!"

"Nah, that brat just went to buy some drinks."

"Che, how boring."

"Get used to it, with the dark side gone. Things are going to be pretty quite around here."

"For some reason Misaka wished the directors would break the deal so that something bad and exciting would happen."

"...Do you want to be slammed head first into that wall?"

With the two chatting, bantering, and shouting at each other. They didn't notice the figure that slowly crept inside the camp.

* * *

_Record of a Conversation_

"Hey, It's me, I've found one of the target."

"Which one?"

"Kamijou Touma."

"Where is he?"

"Carolina Medical Hospital in Warsaw. Room 17. 2nd Floor."

"His condition?"

"Several bruises and minor trauma. Nothing too dangerous, unfortunately."

"What about his guardian? Any escorts?"

"Several magicians of Dawn-Colored Sunlight. Hmm? Hang on for a sec... It's Mark Space."

"Birdway's second-in-command. This could be dangerous."

"It always is."

"Good point."

"What's the order?"

"Fighting the rest of the Dawn-Colored Sunlight are too risky. Avoid open confrontations. Kill him quietly."

"Understood, We'll terminate Kamijou Touma... What about the other target?"

"The Janissaries are doing their job. They are distracting Birdway from making contact with him."

"A good cannon fodder."

"Yes, her skill in magic are far too dangerous. The most those Janissaries could do is stall her for time. Besides, the target is likely to possess critical information regarding our organization. It would be dangerous if the Dawn-Colored Sunlight knows about that."

"...Who is this person anyway?"

"Unknown. We don't have enough information regarding his identity, we don't even know his name. But it's safe to assume that he is very powerful, very formidable."

"meh, how good is this kid anyway? He looks plain normal."

"Looks are always deceiving. Besides, he survived an encounter with the majin."

"That's... impressive."

"Underestimating him would be fatal."

"How do you want to deal with him?"

"Let me worry about that, focus on Kamijou Touma. I'll deal with him."

"...Understood."

_Connection disconnected_

* * *

**Author Notes:**

**So? What do you think? Too corny? Too boring? Anything at all. Let me know in a review. **

**just finished some minor proofreading, noticed some mistakes, hopefully there's nothing more or I will have to update the entire chapter 8 more times. Yes I'm a perfectionist in case you're wondering and...**

**Oh... just ignore my ramblings and click on the next chapter, if i haven't finished it yet then just... wait til i do, i guess...**

**By the way, is anyone even reading this...? Doesn't matter, I'm not going to go to a corner and cry myself out if there's no one reading this...**

**...Okay, maybe I will...**


	2. No Safe Zone

**Whew, originally I planned to finish this in two weeks. Sadly, life had other plans.**

**At this rate, wonder if the third one is going to come up._  
_**

* * *

Chapter 2: The Chaotic Battleground of a Hospital. _No_Safe_Zone_

* * *

"All right this should be enough."

After successfully taking some drinks from the vending machine without any kind of accidents or misfortunes that usually follows my life (bless you God sir, for being merciful!) I'm heading down into my room to wait for the scheduled medical checkup.

Actually I think I'm already good enough to be discharged. But the doctor told me, as a precaution I should stay for a few more days.

Although, it was Mark Space who relayed the conversation. Language barriers are really difficult to overcome for someone with supreme unluckiness and zero linguistic skill like me.

Great, now I feel like crying.

Oh yeah! Now that I think about it, right now I'm in a foreign country right?

Does this mean I could do some travelling around the city and just be a normal tourist vacationing for once? Uooohh! Now that is a refreshing thought!

Every memories I had about the time I'm overseas always involves live-or-death battles.

But now with this opportunity the continuous record streak of misfortune that I've had ever since I'm overseas can be erased for good!

"Finally there's something to look forward to!"

...But is it really alright?

What Birdway just told me earlier in the phone was really bothering me.

Apparently, a lot of magic cabals in Europe has somehow mysteriously disappearing one after another.

There's been zero information on what could have caused this, and the possibility that they were destroyed is also low since no dead bodies or corpses of the members were found.

They just simply... Disappeared.

Simply put, the remaining magic cabals in Europe is in a state of chaos.

Crisis in Europe's magic cabals? Just a few days after World War III?

That is definitely suspicious... who knows what kind of trouble it is, especially since Mark told me the most recent case of disappearance is in this coun...huh?

...

...eh?

...Umm, come to think of it, what country does Warsaw belong to?

France?

Germany?

Ireland?

Now I remember, my geography skill also sucks.

I can't believe I forgot to ask Mark what country I was in! Hold on... Did I just ended up in a hospital somewhere in a country I don't even know?

Such misfortune...

...

Hmm...?

What's that sound?

* * *

"This is Victor, everything's ready on our end."

"The magicians?"

"Haven't noticed a thing."

"Good, commence the assault."

* * *

Mark Space, one of the top elite magicians of the Dawn-Colored Sunlight and the direct underling of Leivinia Birdway was drinking a coffee in a cafe in the same block as the hospital.

"Aahh... everywhere I go, cappuccino always taste the be-."

*BOOOMMM*

Hearing the sound of an explosion in the horizon, the cappuccino Mark was holding eventually spilled into his suit.

"GAH, HOT-HOT!"

Recovering from his surprise, he notice that he's not the only one, the other people inside the cafe was also startled by the explosion.

He made a glance into the where the people are looking, a black smoke caused by a fire can be seen from the cafe.

Most likely the source of the flame are only several buildings in distance to the cafe.

"Isn't the hospital in that direc... Oh no..."

Picking up his cellphone, he dialed a few numbers which apparently was the phone number of sentries stationed inside the hospital and...

No answers.

Picking up his emergency communication talisman, again Mark tried to contact the Dawn-Colored Sunlight members and...

No answers.

"Dammit."

Left with no other option but to find out what happened himself. He ran into the direction of the hospital.

* * *

Let's put Mark aside for a while now, shall we?

Imagine, you're a young, powerful and influential magician, a genius that achieve the highest form of forced recognition in the magical society by leading a magical organization of worldwide renowned in the dark side of the world.

Naturally, the news about an explosion and possible terrorist attack in a certain hospital in Poland would surely reach the ears of that person. And that person's response to that news was...

"what the hell are they doing?"

She was... surprisingly calm.

"Really now, first I had to search the entire city just for an idiot that was chased around by some Middle-East cabals, then another two idiots vital for the plan just have to get themselves attacked by some random forces..."

Finishing the sentence, she made a loud sigh, then...

"WHY AM I SURROUNDED WITH IDIOTS! I HAD ENOUGH WITH THE ONE IN THIS CITY! DON'T GIVE ME ANYMORE WORK IF YOU CAN YOU FOOLS!"

She exploded to no one in particular...

The men in black suit that was her subordinates made an uncomfortable glance to each other before silently pitying the inevitable fate of the so-called-idiots once their leader finds them.

After she finished flowing out her rage, Birdway made another thought.

The timing of his disappearance and the attack on the hospital is too perfect.

Someone behind the scene must be orchestrating that fact.

In other words, it was a distraction.

(But which one is the bait? Which one is their goal? heh... this could be fun after all, the player on the other side is pretty good either)

Making her famous 'evil-smile-that-doesn't-fit-a-cute-young-girl' that fit her personality well. Birdway made a declaration.

"Seems like someone's making a dangerous a game. Fine, whoever you are, I'll make sure you find this game worth playing with your life."

* * *

Outside the hospital, police officers are surrounding the hospital. BOA special forces, a special detachment that act as Polish counter-terrorist units, were also deployed on scene.

(Damn, with this kind of commotion, it's obvious that the ones that bombed the hospital aren't magicians. But, why didn't the sentries answer when I tried to contact them? Don't tell me the ones attacking are espers)

A simple non-magician assault troops only has low possibility of defeating magicians without a fierce fight. Except for people wielding extraordinary powers from the city of Science.

Academy City.

(Are they sending a team to retake Kamijou Touma? this is bad, right now I have to get inside the hospital)

Walking into the front door is possible, but that's the same with facing the entire police force and counter- terrorist ops. The Dawn-Colored Sunlight doesn't need that kind of publicity.

Oh, and let's not forget an entire crowd of people outside the police line surrounding the hospital.

To disperse the entire crowd and the police, an opila rune can be a simple solution.

But right now, with the worldwide reporters in the streets and their news helicopter hovering around the hospital, opila rune is not an option.

The rune can affect everyone in the area but not the television viewers watching the news from their home.

If the reporters just somehow left the scene, people are going to start asking questions, and THAT will attract the attention of organizations gunning after Dawn-Colored Sunlight. Plus, Birdway will most definitely going to punish Mark if that happen.

Actually, the last part was the scariest thing in Mark Space's weak-willed mind.

(S-she's going to kill me because of this, won't she? ...Oh no... Don' t tell me she's going to use t-t-that Super Fluffy Ultra Cute Miracle Massacre Mincemeat Lovey-Dovey Pretty White Bunny Glove again!)

It seems that a deep psychological trauma has somehow forced Mark's brain to memorize the long name of a cursed item in Birdway's possession.

Brushing aside the mental problem he had, Mark begin to think on how to approach the situation.

(The only option I have right now is to find a way to sneak into the hospital)

That's easier said than done. Of course.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the streets of Prague, small explosions covered the streets in dust.

The people that crowded the street frantically escaped from the scene with a panicked look on their faces. The city police tries to interfere with the ones who caused the destruction. Several seconds afterwards, some of them followed what the crowd did.

They run away as fast as they can.

"How can you run away like that you shitty cops? I'm in awful lots of pain! OI, I'M BEING CHASED BY A MEGALOMANIAC RIGHT HERE!"

The one who screamed that line filled with terror, was a blond boy holding an old revolver.

"Hum, running away like that is not honorable."

The one who said that noble warrior-like line, was a middle aged man swinging a big black flaming sword. the swing caused several of the black flames to launched itself into the boy. When the boy throw himself into the ground to avoid the flame, the black flames hit an empty bus in the background.

That certain bus melted as if it was hit with a downpour of acid.

The blond boy screamed."If THAT is your idea of being honorable, then fuck honor! I'm not a freakin' samurai or some kind of chivalrous knight, dammit! and why the hell did you ignore the bystanders? do you want this to end up in a news report?"

"Not a problem, actually it was helpful if a lot of people were in the vicinity. Don't worry, my organization has excellent public-relation system, so your humiliating death won't end up in a news report."

"THAT'S NOT EXACTLY MY MAIN CONCERN!"

With no hesitation and mercy whatsoever. The man swing his flaming blade into the boy.

_Dammit, have to dodge!...huh?_

His legs were moving, but somehow his feet still stuck in the same ground. The reason?

Because the melted road started to stick into his shoes.

With only several seconds until the collision and not enough time for the boy to abandon his precious shoes. He came to one conclusion.

_I'm dead..._

Black flames begin to burn his body.

* * *

Sewer system are great for infiltrating buildings... As long as you don't mind the smell at least.

(Damn, I'm stink... Once I'm out of this place, I'm buying a new suit)

Mark Space scanned the hallway of the hospital. He frowned when he sees some of the people are standing around as if nothing happened.

Despite the panicking onlookers outside the hospital. None of the people inside were in a panic after the explosion, that alone give off a strange feeling.

It was as if they were somehow been tranquilized by something that came out of the explosion.

Including those 'tranquilized' people, were the magicians of Dawn-Colored Sunlight stationed inside the hospital. They just watched in a daze, even though debris from the explosion and the figure of Mark Space were visible from their line of sight.

(What the hell happened to these guys?)

Figuring out what was 'tranquilizing' them using magic and snap them back to reality is possible, but Mark quickly scrap that idea.

(There's not enough time! I have to find Kamijou Touma and deal with whatever it is that caused this)

It looks like giving the magicians a wake up call will have to wait.

Mark start preparing his special enchantments, A deck of tarot cards. To be specific the Minor Arcana.

As a magician skilled in the usage of Minor Arcana, He made a certain specialization into the 14 sword cards that corresponded to wind.

Those 14 cards were the whole of the hand Mark had to use.

That included the number cards from ace to 10 and the court cards which were the page, the knight, the queen, and the king. Also, Mark used special tarot cards that were optimized to be used as symbolic weapons that activated the spells used by Golden-style organizations.

Thinking back, this was the same equipment Mark used when he rescued Patricia Birdway back at the The Blue Research ship.

Somehow it become his standard equipment after Birdway refused to give him access into the major arcana and thoroughly has her way with him in a punishment for a certain incident following the "supposedly successful" rescue mission.

(Even though I told her that it's unreasonable to use tarot intended for large scale ceremonies that's not suited for battles where quick actions are needed.)

Making a small sigh, Mark made a sudden stop as he sense an odd silence surrounding the air.

It was quiet...

Too quiet

"There he is! Shoot him!"

At the same time Mark heard that sound, three well-armed people fired their assault rifles in front of Mark.

"Oh, crap!"

With fast reflexes and incredibly good luck, Mark Space jumped and took cover behind a pillar without a single bullet managed to hit him.

(Who the hell are these guys? They're not Academy City's personnel... soldiers? no... mercenaries?)

Judging from their military-grade armor and weapons, mercenaries are the most probable choice. However, their maneuvers of attacking are very calculated.

For example, they made a certain distance from Mark so that it's easier to dodge from Mark's spell, they didn't try to take cover behind objects because they realized, unlike conventional weapons, magic can ultimately pierce and destroy that object.

Their aim was also very good, they didn't aim at Mark's body like a soldier trying to kill his enemy. Instead, they aimed at Mark's suit pocket and the tarot card he held.

They were aiming at his spiritual item.

(Dammit! They obviously had experience in fighting magicians! Who the hell are these guys?)

Mark pulled out the eight of swords and then made a spun on the eight of swords. As a tarot card that symbolized a hindrance, a wall, or a weight. The mass of power that appeared can be felt in the air in the form of a shield.

However, by reversing the position of the card, the power being scattered outward for the defensive shield was transformed into an attacking sword.

He swing that sword and he can see that, although they managed to avoid it, the backblast from the sword's explosion has caused them to stagger in place.

(Chance! I'll finish them with another swing)

But before he finish that line of thought, one of them shouted.

"Goon, NOW!"

A red smoke suddenly popped out around the corner behind Mark Space. In a split second, it engulfed and swallowed the entire hallway in a thick fog and covered Mark's entire body.

"A smoke grena?-AAAAHHH!"

A sharp pain assaulted his mind.

The power that formed a sword slowly disappeared.

The pain slowly recedes, but his exhaustion and pained expression were still visible.

(What's going... on...? can't... think... have to... concentra-)

"GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

As soon as he started concentrating on his magic, an even more intense pain appeared within his mind.

(a... neural... gas...? No... timing... off... ugh... really...can't...)

With that, Mark Space slowly blacked out to the darkness.

As if his soul has been torn apart by a great force.

* * *

Once the soldiers(?) confirmed that the magician in front of them has been neutralized. They started gathering around the unconscious Mark Space.

One of them said with a worried face "What should we do with him?"

"Don't waste your ammo, he's no longer a threat. Right now, focus on Kamijou Touma. By the way Lance, what about the ones outside?"

Loud noises started to gather around their communication device. One of them, the one called Lance, made an annoyed chuckle.

"We're getting a lot of radio chatter from the BOA Unit, they're making a breach to the hospital soon."

Bureau Organization of Anti-terrorism or BOA for short, are Poland's special police unit. They were classified as one of the most elite task group that specialized in keeping national order and recently, has been recognized as the world's best in anti-terrorism. During the World War III, the training for BOA unit has been significantly increased. It was almost on the same level with a black-ops group. They also played major role in protecting Europe from a worldwide meltdown caused by a group of terrorist that sabotaged the nuclear power plant in Flamanville, France.

Against those overwhelming, one of them, the one they obviously refer to as their leader, made a simple smile.

"How long?"

"It should be... 30 seconds I guess?"

*BLAMM*

A small explosion rang out in the hospital.

"Make that 2 seconds. Playtime, people."

* * *

**THAT WAS HARD.**

**With these last few months suffering from numerous to-do-list, finding time to finish this fic is a lot harder than my math test (why the hell does God create a universe with calculus?). In any case, this is the best I can do for now. And it's not much, lots of room to improve and I'm gonna try my freakin' best.**

**I know I mentioned this in the first part, that...**

**At this rate, wonder if the third one's going to come up.**

**Maybe not soon, but I hope it will!**

**For the record: BOA really does exist (just google it!) but I think the name Biuro Operacji Antyterrorystycznych is a little bit long and un-spell-able in English... Okay, very long and un-spell-able, so I took a loser's liberty to change it into Bureau Organization of Anti-terrorism. There! Much better.**

**Read, Rate, and Reviews please!**


	3. Hollow Rescue

**Against all odds, somehow the third one is finally finished! Hurray for carbonated coffee! Anyway, since there has been no review at all. I can only assume my story sucks or too confusing. Well, too bad, I'm gonna finish it no matter how bad the story is and nothing is going to stop me... E****xcept that pile of homework in my desk.**

**God, I'm starting to understand what Touma feels going through all those supplementary classes.**

**Fukou da.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Unfortunate Meeting of the Unfortunates._ Hollow_Rescue_

* * *

**_Mala Strana District, Prague._**

"Burned to a charcoal... What a sad end, boy."

In the midst of the street. The leftover of the battle between the boy and the magician was reminiscent to that from a scene in a warzone.

Even though the thing in front him was the remains of his enemy, the magician still hasn't drop his guard even a little.

It was obvious, with the chaos in the area, the Dawn Colored Sunlight is definitely going to take notice.

During all the commotion, the magician paid no heed to the scared stares and small fearful whispers from the people hiding around the location, trying to stay themselves out of the incomprehensible battle in front of them.

Nonetheless, the fact that several of them chose to hide instead of running as far away as possible, were probably a proof of human curiosity.

Despite his disinterest to the crowd. The magician's eyes were focused to a corner.

From that corner, footsteps of a person can be heard.

From that corner, a shimmering small light appeared in the dark.

From that corner, the figure of a little girl slowly walked out from the shadow.

"Miss Birdway. You're right on time."

Without saying a single word in response, Birdway waved her wand. In an instant, the people around the area started leaving the battleground.

"Oh? Evacuating the civilians? How kind of you."

"Don't be ridiculous." she said casually, seemingly unconcerned. Glancing at the magician, she made a small sigh "Just how much trouble are you looking anyway, Heinzel?"

"Hmm? Trouble? Oh, miss Birdway you wound me." he said with an obviously fake surprised tone. "You see, this is merely part of a business transaction with my client."

"You mean my dead informant over there?" she pointed at the boy's remains. "Do you know how irritating it is to deal with a two-faced liar like you?"

"Isn't it what you do everyday miss?" he retorted, smiling again.

She shrugged "True, but that doesn't make it any less irritating." her hand started fiddling with her wand. "Hey Heinzel, You know how this goes right?"

"Pardon me if I'm being impolite." he answered, with a butler-like voice. "But you're going to kill me, am I correct?"

She smiled. It was the same smile a predator would have when it found a prey.

"Glad to see we have an understanding."

* * *

**_Pulawska Street, BOA Operation Center, Warsaw_**

"GODDAMN IT!" General Commander Antoni Kossak yelled in frustration.

He is the senior-most officer of the Polish police force and the current leader of the anti-terrorism operation in the hospital. Right now, he and several of his subordinates have been monitoring the radio. For further notes, this place was actually an administration center where the day to day administration and organisation of the Polish police's activities is coordinated.

However, following the terrorist attack at the hospital, it was subsequently turned into the temporary "BOA Operation Center" to coordinate the operation.

Even so, the chaos from the hospital seems to have spread into this place.

Why?

Probably because what they heard from the radio was... not encouraging.

_"Two of them on your left!"_

_"Grenade! GRENADE!"_

_"Rori's down! We need evac!"_

_"Get the civvies out of here, now!"_

Two hours earlier, after no response was confirmed from the hospital. Entire battalions of Polish anti-terrorist and police force stormed the hospital. As evident from the radio, this turns out very wrong...

One of the adjutants hands out a report "Sir, 31 casualties have been confirmed."

"How many deaths?" Antoni responded with a sour face

"14 officers KIA, 17 injured. Luckily, there are no deaths on the civilians, only several wounded."

"That's the only good thing I heard today, doesn't change the fact that 14 of my men are dead." Antoni said dryly. "Reuben, tell Commander Karnikov to get the squads to maintain a safe distance from the terrorists. Change the priority into evacuating the civilians and the wounded." the adjutant complied and quickly spread the order through the radio.

Antoni realized there is another fact he needs to know. "Have we identified the terrorist?"

The adjutant's face stiffened "Not yet sir, the only thing we know about them is that there are 6 of them and are highly professional with military grade equipment. They are not taking hostages and they haven't made any demands yet."

"I thought as much. Regarding who these people are, they are probably remnants of World War III."

"That much is obvious sir."

With World War III ending much quicker than expected, there's bound to be several elements of people, mostly smugglers and arms dealers, dissatisfied with the war's ending.

The General Commander were lost in thought for a second.

If these people are probably remnants of World War III. They must have a certain angle, but what? What are their objectives? What will they achieve in attacking the hospital? There's no value in it except the medical technology. Hell, even America or Academy City has medical technology much better than the hospital. Whatever they are after, its not some experimental drugs, not weapons, not technology.

There's also another mystery: why didn't they take any hostages inside the hospital? Securing hostages can safely ensure what they were doing were free of police intervention. In short, they can can have some time to do whatever they want without someone trying to get a shot at them. They're movement were very illogical. What the hell are they after?

The answer came much faster than expected.

Weapons or technology are not the only valuable things connected to a war. There is also something else that can drastically change the course of a war.

A person.

They're after a person inside the hospital!

But that doesn't add up. They didn't take any hostages. If they're after a person in the hospital, why didn't they just capture the entire hospital and take turns to identify the target from the hospital, that would have been easier. Plus, with the resources they possess, it should have been easy to infiltrate as a doctor or a nurse. Why come gun-toting into the hospital?

There's still something unknown here. There is a piece missing from the game board.

But right now, the chances that they're targeting a person are high. Let's start there.

"Reuben, get me a list of patients, visitors and hospital staffs, now! I think I know what they're after."

* * *

**_Mala Strana District, Prague._**

"I think I got blood on my shoes."

Standing in the middle of destruction is Leivinia Birdway. The 10 minutes time span after the end of her conversation with a certain magician has turned the entire district into pile of ruins. As expected of the cruel boss girl of the magic cabal known as Dawn-Colored Sunlight, she doesn't care about that fact, not even a little.

Except for the attentions she's going to get. Since there are dozens of magic cabals and organizations that was going after Dawn-Colored Sunlight. "And this was supposed to be a subtle mission." Birdway clicked her tongue as she remind herself of that.

Her phone rang suddenly, her instinct was already telling her what came out of that phone was bad news, but she decided to answer it anyway. "Talk to me."

As she spoke with whoever it is on the phone, the girl headed for the remains of the boy previously killed by the magician.

"The Anglicans? Yeah, I figured as much. Considering the commotion it should be plenty obvious they're going to investigate."

Anglicans, see? Bad news already.

As she thought of the annoying problems piling up, she stopped walking right in front of the boy's remains.

"Whatever, I don't like hearing excuses. Try to stall the Anglican agents as much as you can. Who are they sending anyway? Styil Magnus and Theodosia Electra, you say? Well they should be fun to play with."

As she hold her phone with her left hand, she took out a small handkerchief from her pocket with her other hand. Within that handkerchief a certain magic array was written in light blue alongside a crude drawings of sun, mountains, and black color as the array's background. the blue writings represents the telesma's two directions alignment, the sun represent afterlife of souls, the mountains represent the telesma within the earth and the black color represent the souls.

Simply put, its an identification spell used by magician examiners to determine what kind of magic caused the death of the corpse. With a certain modification into the spell it can also be used to determine the identity of the corpse.

She touched the handkerchief to the remains and the black color turns light blue, the array written in light blue turns grey.

Somehow, she looked as if she was sick of it.

"Let me get this straight, Styil was sent to Poland to investigate the hospital case, while Theodosia was sent here to investigate our presence. No, no. That won't do. Right now, Styil Magnus must not make contact with that hot-headed idiot. Infiltrating Academy City will be much harder if Kamijou Touma was confirmed to be alive. That damn archbishop must have predicted the possibility of that boy being alive and in Poland."

Still holding the phone with her left hand. Birdway begin to draw another magic array on the ground. This scene will really remind you like the time children draw childish things with crayons on the ground. Instead of crayons however, Birdway used the bone she picked up from the burned boy as a writing tool. As expected of the cruel boss girl of the magic cabal known as Dawn-Colored Sunlight, she doesn't care about the fact that people can mistaken it with a scene from a child horror movie.

"Heinzel? That bastard escaped with Flailing spell, at least he's going to need a new hand after this. Most importantly, stall Styil Magnus as much as you can. Don't worry about Theodosia, she's not a threat, not for me at least."

As she continues to draw the array, a drop of blood from the bone spilled to her clothes. Her EXPENSIVE clothes.

That incident made Birdway's mood to drop lower than it already has.

"You're really useless you know that. If you can't even delay him for one second, then be creative and target his transport. How should I know? Put a bomb in his plane or something. Oh, also, get several Red Card specialist to get Kamijou Touma out of that hospital. They should be able to... Hang on, hold the phone for a while."

Birdway shifted her focus to the magic circle, it turns bright and it shows a bird's eye view of a city. A small dot appears in the middle of that city. Incidentally, the place where that dot appears were the hospital where the terrorist attack happen.

"Actually, cancel the Red Cards. It seems someone else is already in that hospital. It's him. Yeah, his body in Prague is just a dummy, maybe it's some kind of doppelganger spell. That bastard tricked all of us."

As expected of the cruel boss girl of the magic cabal known as Dawn-Colored Sunlight, the bone she was holding instantly broke into little pieces when she mentioned a certain annoying bastard.

* * *

_**2 hours 30 minutes ago, Carolina Medical Center, Warsaw**_

Hmm...?

What's that sound?

It seems like the sound of a drill digging something, but its not as loud as I thought it should be. In fact the sound was barely audible. From the sound of it I think it's right above me. Is there some kind of construction project around here?

"Get down, you idiot!"

"Wahh?

Just when I was wondering about the mysterious drill sound, a blond teenage boy suddenly shoved me into the ground. He looked to be fifteen, maybe sixteen, was of a reasonable height, and had a well-featured face. His black hooded jacket is really standing out though. Just who is this person? Shoving people you just met is not the culture of this country right?

Apparently, 2 seconds after he shoved me, a special effects-like *BOOOM!* sound appeared right on the ceilings on top of me.

Getting an explosion right on top of your head is unpleasant. It felt like I had been hit hard on the head with a baseball bat. Doesn't take long for me to get knocked out to the ground.

Just before I can recover my bearings from the explosion, I could see a number of legs. I can tell some people were approaching, but I still can't hear their footsteps, maybe its the low frequency vibration from the explosion messing with my senses... Damn, now's not the time to think scientific things like that.

These people were holding something, maybe guns. Damn it, If I stay here, I would either be captured or shot, but my legs won't move, not even a little. My semicircular canals must have been taken out along with my sense of hearing... Gah! Stop thinking scientific trivia like that and start getting your body to move Kamijou-san!

"Shit! What the fuck was that?"

Oh? It seems my started working again. Come to think of it, that's not the same sound that yelled at me to get down. Don't tell me it's one of the people with guns!

"Doesn't matter! Just finish him off before the magicians realized what happened!"

I knew it, My luck never lasts this long before. I wanted to speak, but my throat was choked with something. Is this how it's going to end? Oh yeah, what happened to that guy?

As soon as my eyes started functioning properly, the scene in front of me is just too much too handle.

The entire place is filled with smoke, so I can't see it clearly, but the blond boy from before was in close combat with one of the soldier(?) . The boy throw a punch into the soldier and he blocked it with his rifle. Before the soldier(?) could retaliate, the boy did a very fast punch into the soldier's stomach and he groaned in pain. Taking the opportunity, the boy twisted the soldier's arm with some kind of kung-fu technique. I'm pretty sure I heard a crack from his arm. Then, he turned the soldier around facing towards the rest of the soldiers. Taking his rifle and using the soldier as a human shield, he started pulling the trigger. All of them immediately retreated and ran into the nearby cover.

All that happened in less than a second.

He began shooting randomly at the other soldiers(?), none of them hit, but it was enough to keep them hiding behind their covers. He began speaking to me while still shooting at the soldiers.

"Hey! You still alive?"

I wanted to say, yes I am, but all I could manage is a small groan. My legs is still staggering but at least it can run. That boy seems to noticed that fact.

"Ok, I'll take that as a yes. Stand up, quick. We'll be dead meat once this gun goes click."

*click*

"..."

"..."

Okay, first impression about the boy: he's strong. Second impression about the boy: he's an idiiiiiiiiioooooootttt!

"Gwoooahhh! Don't give me that 'you're an idiot' kind of stare! Anyway, RUN LIKE HELL!"

He mercilessly tossed the soldier(?) he's been using as a human shield and began running away. The other soldiers(?) started firing their respective weap-... Heh? What about me?

"How could you leave me behind like that, you cruel bastard? Huh? Yes, I can speak! Oh crap, not the time!"

Following his lead, I began running away with bullets swatting all around me.

* * *

**_Pulawska Street, BOA Operation Center, Warsaw_**

General Commander Antoni Kossak was in the state bewilderment when a new information reaches his ear.

"A Japanese teenager?"

One of his aide continues her report.

"Yes sir, one of the doctor we evacuated was treating an Asian teenager, presumably Japanese. There are reports about him as a patient in the list of patients we uncovered from the hospital. However, the records of the patient list in the database center did not mention anything about an Asian as a patient in that hospital. Maybe, someone faked the documents for a certain reason."

A Japanese.

Here's a simple trivia: What comes into your mind when you are stuck in a case against a group of terrorist and the only clue about their identities is that a japanese could possibly be their target. Now, what do you think is valuable about a japanese?

Here's a clue: Everyone in the world already knows about a certain city located in the island of Japan, completely filled with secrets about special human beings and technology so advanced, it allows them to end the World War III in several days.

Here's another clue: Several weeks before World War III started, due to the tension in the political climate and predicted danger of a potential conflict, several Japanese started leaving the foreign countries they were staying at. Of course, at first only several of them left, but after a series of riot in Europe and America protesting against Academy City, almost 97% of the Japanese in EU returned to Japan. In Warsaw, it was confirmed that the presence of Japanese were almost non-existent. There are still several of them here and there, but because of war discrimination almost all of them chose to stay locked up behind their houses or apartments.

If so, then what are this teenage boy doing so openly by staying in a hospital?

That's right.

He's from Academy City.

The Japanese is an esper of Academy City.

The terrorist were after an esper of Academy City

Antoni Kossak trembled at the realization of the truth. This is worse than anything he expected. If he handles it wrong, worst case scenario, it can restart the hell called World War III. Maybe the technical term would be World War IV, but that's not the time to worry about trivial names.

He doesn't know what the esper was doing there. But, right now he had to resolve this without making anyone, especially the government, realize that an espe-...

"Commander, there's an emergency."

"Another one? What is it?"

"You have an emergency phone call from the president and the parliament, it seems they wanted you to brief them about the current situation. They also said they have new evidence that a third party was involved in the attack."

The General Commander frowned at that statement.

(A third party was involved in the attack)

They know.

* * *

_**Present Time, Carolina Medical Center, Warsaw**_

"I think we're safe for now."

"Yeah... Maybe..."

Kamijou Touma and the blond boy was in a lounge somewhere in the hospital.

They were out of breath from all the high tension of running and escaping and dodging bullets and explosives for the past two hours.

"Hey, after all of this commotion, I think you need to do some explaining to me." said Kamijou with a stern voice.

"Yeah, I suppose so." the boy replied, looking quite exhausted from the ordeal. "But first, pass me some water will ya."

After he emptied the entire bottle of water, sound of a radio can be heard from the boy's pocket.

"What was that?" Kamijou asked.

The boy took out the radio "This is something I took from one of dead special force guy we found on our way here. It could be use-."

"I know about that!" Kamijou's lightning-like rage cut off the boy's words. His entire body was wrapped in such anger that it looked like static electricity would scatter about if someone touched him.

"What I'm asking is, what was that all about? You can't just leave all those people behind! They were suffering, some of them might even be dying right now!"

The boy looked as if it was clear he's not interested in the debate, but Kamijou kept going.

"Look, I know we can't save all of them. But a moment ago we passed by two of those special ops and they got shot trying to help us. Heck, I don't even know your name, so why am I following _you_ around?"

"What are you trying to say, Kamijou? You would have been dead if I didn't save your ass. What do you think we should do in that situation? Go to the cops so they could stuff us up with the rest of the victims?" The boy retorted in a sarcastic tone.

"No! All I'm saying is, why don't we just tell the police what's happening in the hospital, right now? If we explain ourselves and what is generally going on in the hospital, we can make a plan to take out the terrorists attacking the hospital. They're not the enemies right here."

In response, the boy made a sarcastic laugh. It annoyed Kamijou so much he wanted to punch the boy in the face. Something he never thought about doing to someone who has saved his live.

"What's so funny?"

"It's you Kamijou, you're still naive."

"Why you little-"

"Hey, don't start clenching your fist! Okay, okay. Fine, I'll tell you why we didn't go the cops."

"And why is that?"

"It's because-"

Before the boy can finish that line. He was interrupted by the sound from the radio.

_To all friendly callsigns in the frequency. An evidence has come to light where one of the patient in the hospital was proven to be one of the terrorist's accomplice. Suspect is described as an Asian teenager with medium build and black, spiky hair. Presumed hostile, armed and dangerous. Suspect is subject for detaining and questioning with high level priority. Use of non-lethal force has been authorized._

The voice in the radio was speaking in Polish and Kamijou had no idea what that means, but the boy in front of him suddenly tensed up when he heard the broadcast.

"That... It's because of that."

With his anger turned into confusion, Kamijou tilted his head slightly with questioning look.

"...What did it say?"

"Ssh... quiet." the boy pointed into the radio without responding to his question. Kamijou slightly nodded, he's trying to hear the radio to get more information. But only static came out of it. "Well, that's just fucking great."

If this keeps up, a three way battle against the Polish government and the terrorists are about to begin.

"Listen, I know you have butt-loads of questions right now. But now's not the time, just follow my lead and focus on staying alive, this lounge is not going to be safe for long. I'll explain as much as I can on our way out of this hospital."

Normal person would have already throwing some tantrum when their questions are denied and their life in danger for reasons they don't even know why. However, the person called Kamijou Touma is already used to that kind of situation.

"Just one question, then."

"?"

"Who are you?"

The boy smiled as if he expected that question.

"Name's Wilfred Reed, I'm an informant, a courier ,a mercenary, a thief, a broker, an inventor, a mad scientist, a martial artist, a mechanic, a runaway driver, a part time magician, a part time convenient store clerk and basically a veteran jack of all trade in shady businesses. Pleasure to make you acquaintance Mr. Hero"

"I don't think one of them is a shady business though. Err... Reed-san?"

"Just call me Wil, everyone does."

* * *

**And... there you go, 4000 words. I'm honestly impressed with myself. I gotta say, the impact I expected when I made the OC/Wilfred Reed's character looked a little bit odd, but otherwise it's plenty good... Well maybe a little weird, but whatever.**

**Also I have to apologize for several ramblings I wrote in the past chapters. A friend of mine said its very confusing, and he was right. I won't say I purposedly made them confusing, because I didn't. But in later chapters, I hope I can clear up those confusion.**

**Now, about the settings of the fanfic. After hours of reading through all the fanfic of TAMnI, almost all of them were focused on Academy City and espers, personally I think it's a little boring if the location of havoc and turmoil is always Academy City (then again, IT IS a place for havoc and turmoil).**

** Don't get me wrong, those are good fic (kudos for the writers, my respect for you all!) ****and true, most of the most awesome characters in To Aru is in the science side in Academy City so I can understand their reasons.**

**So, I thought, "why don't I just make a fic about a protagonist from the magic side?"**

**And thus, this fic was born.**

**Don't worry about Academy City or other protagonists like Misaka or Hamazura or Accelerator, they're going to take part in this fic and I already have several troubles planned out for them.**

**For now, I'll focus on making more problems and misfortunes for Touma and Wil.**

**Read, Rate, and Reviews please!**


	4. Part Time Magician

**After a long, fun, and refreshing vacation, my heart started crying as the holidays end... GOD, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?-! Oh, look! Reviews! See? The more you review this fic, the faster my work is.**

_{Sorry for interrupting, but we've been MIA for months}_

_{Shut up, stupid brain}_

**Not that this fic is going to make any sense, mind you. One thing I learn from the endings of Mass Effect 3: don't expect too much about anything, it'll broke your heart when something goes wrong... Damn it, Shepard...**

**Oh, I think I should add this, there are no hard feelings intended in this fic. If there are readers that came from the region I mentioned in this fic and felt insulted or something, please note that it's not on purpose. This fic is for entertainment and hobby purpose only. Again, no hard feelings intended in this fic.**

**Come to think of it, I didn't write any disclaimer whatsoever in the previous chapters didn't I? Well, doesn't matter, the most expensive things I can afford right now is my three months rent and a new hard drive for my computer. So there's no way I can own To aru, it belongs to Kamachi-sensei...**

**Scratch that, the discounts on electronics has expired, lately the supermarket have been lacking in sales, and don't get me started on the gas price... Is this what they call an economic crisis...? Man, I hate recessions.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Beginning the Wretchedly Dubious Journey of the Pairs. _Part_Time_Magician_

* * *

"She's been like that for three days now. She doesn't sleep much, she barely eat her food, she ignored most of what happening in class, even the dorm supervisor is worried, this is-... she's-... AAARRRRGGGHHHH, I CAN'T STAND IT! SATEN-SAN! WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED TO HER?"

"Eh...? E-even if you ask me like that..."

Shirai Kuroko is predictably worried.

Ever since her beloved Onee-sama came back to the dorm after several days of absence, she have been under a state of total depression.

The dorm supervisor gave her a severe punishment because of the absence, but she merely nodded with an expressionless face and a gleam aura of sadness like the ones people have on funerals.

So, in a certain cafe in School Garden and together with the duo from the Sakugawa Middle School. A strategy meeting to determine the nature of Misaka Mikoto's melancholy has begun.

"Ano, Shirai-san, you said that Misaka-san was gone for several days?" asked the flower-head girl.

"Yes, a classmate told me Onee-sama left the dorm in the morning, when I was busy with the Judgement meeting. You know about it right, Uiharu? The one about 'War Precaution'. it turned out to be useless though."

"But Shirai-san, shouldn't people be prepared if the war reached Academy City?" said Uiharu, taking another bite into the parfait. "I thought the war was going to last longer, it was a miracle that it only last a few days."

"Of course, as one of the peacekeeper of Academy City, I think that being prepared in times of war was absolutely necessary." Kuroko muttered.

"But because of that, I DIDN'T SPEND A LOT OF TIME WITH ONEE-SAMA! AND THEN SHE SUDDENLY GONE WANDERING AROUND WHO-KNOWS-WHERE, COMING BACK DEPRESSED AND ACTING REALLY WEIRD EVER SINCE! I CAN'T STAND BEING USELESS LIKE THIS! ONEE-SAMA WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? CURSE THAT MEETING!"

"Eeeehh? You can't just- Shirai-san! Stop hitting your head into the table! It's breaking! You're really going to break the table!

It's amazing how the teleporter can say something very profound and then said something else completely contradicting the previous sentence.

While the two judgement members was causing commotion, the level 0 Saten Ruiko slowly sipped the milkshake she ordered, ignoring the teleporter trying to kill herself by pounding her head into the table and her flower-head colleague trying to stop her. This is already a part of her daily life after all.

What concerns her is the same fact that has made other two people on that table concerned. They were the friends of Misaka Mikoto (although one of them obviously wanted to be more than friends), so a kind hearted person like Saten can't just ignore her when she's in trouble.

They've been taking turns to watch over Misaka Mikoto, trying to get closer to her and find out what happened. However, it didn't work and Misaka Mikoto seemed very distant compared to the days when they first met her.

Sighing in exasperation, she began reading a manga she bought earlier to ease the tension. The two judgement members is still bickering in front of her.

_(What's up with this manga? The protagonist really likes the heroine, but she suffered from memory loss every day? Man, talk about persistent.)_

As she opens the next page of the manga, Saten Ruiko carelessly muttered a sentence that a few days later will cause a hell to break loose into the world of an unfortunate spiky haired boy.

("Hmm... Sometimes, boys can be really stubborn.")

It was only a low-sounded mutter, but the entire table fell silent.

With that single sentence the girls discovered a new insight.

"W-why are you guys looking at me like that? It's just the manga- ...oh, don't tell me..."

"N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-no way, t-t-there's no way..."

"But this is Misaka-san we're talking about, right Saten-san? And she left for... several... days... a b-boy...romance... k-ki... FUEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH."

Uiharu Kazari has entered a stage of delusions about a certain Railgun and a dreamy prince-like boy (according to her imagination) doing various acts of indecency that should not be shown for those below 18.

"W-well, considering what happened it certainly is possible. Actually, why didn't we think that a boy might be involved?"

"IT'S NOT!, BECAUSE IT'S NOT! THERE'S NO BOY INVOLVED! ONEE-SAMA NEVER EVEN MEET A SINGLE MAN IN HER LIFE! SO IT'S LOGICAL THERE'S NO BOY INVOLVED!"

Shirai Kuroko has entered a stage of complete denial towards the truth and begun rejecting the (supposedly) cruel, bloody, and horrifying world of a maiden's life where the person she loves fell for another person.

_'If that's the case, then what about her father?' _thought Saten.

It was apparent that she grows more worried with the condition of her two friends.

"Err... Are you two okay?"

"no boys...no boys...no boys... yes, onee-sama... Kuroko's the only one for you... that ape doesn't exist... yes... he doesn't exist..."

"...my...prince...no...it's...too early...we're not supposed to...fuah...you're...so majestic..."

"Oh, dear."

Two of the girls were trapped in their own delusions and denials. Leaving Saten completely alone in the real world.

_(Actually, I would be lying if I say I'm not interested in Misaka-san's boyfriend... If she had one. I recall her making some cookies in my house back then. It must be for that guy. If Misaka-san really do have feelings for him, then he must be a decent person. It's Misaka-san after all, she won't just fell for a random thug)._

It appears unlike the two deluding girls in that cafe, there's someone that can think straight in that situation.

_(But if he turned out to be the one causing her like this, I'll take out my baseball bat. I don't care if he's a high level esper or some rich spoiled brat, I'm going to kick his ass when I meet him. I'm sure Shirai-san and Uiharu would lend me a hand. Yep, yep, the three of us would be perfectly capable of handling a bastard like that. It's not like he's a terrorist or anything like that.)_

Unbeknownst to her, a certain spiky haired boy has been marked for a national manhunt for being an accessory to terrorism.

* * *

"SAY WHAT?"

"Not so loud, you idiot!"

Kamijou Touma and the part-time magician, Wilfred Reed, were sneaking around in the hospital, trying to stay undetected from several groups currently hunting them. Namely the Polish Government and...

"Hunter's Cross. That's the group those terrorist belong to. They're elite group of soldiers that specializes in hunting down the supernatural."

"Yes, yes, that explanation is nice and all, but can we get back to the part where this Kamijou-san has somehow become an international fugitive? That's just ridiculous! I didn't even do a thing! Arrgghh, Fukou da!"

Kamijou was in tears of anguish as he desperately trying to find a hope that his misfortune hasn't rise on an international level.

Despite clearly noticing Kamijou's dilemma, Wilfed continued with his cheerful explanation.

"Technically, you're a national fugitive in a foreign country, not an international fugitive. If you are an international fugitive then more cops from all around the globe will be hunting you down like rats."

"... If you're trying to cheer me up, then you're really bad at it. Besides, why did you smile as if you just won a million dollar lottery?"

Deciding to ignore the question. Wilfred moved to the main issue.

"You're probably wondering why the Polish government ordered a manhunt for you, right?"

"Well.. yeah, I guess... Wait, did you just deliberately ignore my question?"

"Basically, it's because Poland had numerous setbacks during World War III."

"...I still don't like how you can simply shrugged me off, but go on."

"...Well, you'll understand soon enough." said Wilfred, complete with a wide yawn. It appears that the one supposed to explain things were too lazy to explain anything into the spiky-haired boy.

"W-w-w-wait just a second, after piqueing someone's interest like that, you have no right to just end the conversation!"

"...Hang on, how do you spell it exactly? Piquing... pique-ing... peaking... picking... Huh, what a confusing word."

"The confusing one here is you! And those 4 words sounds the same to me! In fact, why the hell are you wondering about the grammar of an english word when I'm speaking in Japanese?

"That's because this story is written in English obviously."

"...Why am I feeling like I'm talking to Orsola...? Nevermind, what story are you talking about exactly?"

"Oh, nothing, just breaking some 4th wall, that's all."

"Okay, we're getting sidetracked. On to the main topic: WHY THE HELL AM I A NATIONAL FUGITIVE?-!"

"Well, explaining it with those two BOA Spec ops in front of us might be a bit difficult."

"!"

True to his words. Two special police officers that appeared suddenly in front of them began firing their weapons.

* * *

"We found them! The spiky haired asian and a blonde teenager, presumably an accomplice, are in the third floor mezzanine. We're currently engaging them in a firefight. Requesting backup!"

Just so you know, the one making that radio call was Sergeant Tommy Raymond, a BOA special ops that came from a Sicilian mother and an American father. Just a little trivia to add more color into the chapter.

Oh, right, almost forgot. Kamijou Touma and his so-called accomplice were still alive. There are two reasons for that.

The first reason was Wilfred Reed fast reflexes and much experience in combat. The moment he finished his short but slightly sarcastic sentence, he threw the vending machine right next to him into the ground. Effectively turning it into a perfect cover for the duo from incoming rifle fire.

It was noteworthy that the vending machine was actually one of the mega-sized vending machine made by a company associated to Academy City to contain numerous range of products. The width of the vending machine was approximately the same with the size of the two 16 years old teenager cowering behind it.

The second reason was the actual fact that the two officers in front of them were outfitted with non-lethal suppression weaponry. An expert could assume that the two of them were part of a unit sent specifically to subdue Kamijou Touma, instead of the terrorists. Wilfred Reed was one of such expert.

That might be why he considered that the blunt bullets can't break through the metal plating and wires within the vending machine. If they used conventional weaponry, the story might be different.

Meanwhile, Wilfred draw a sidearm from his pocket and fired several shots into the attackers.

None of them hit the officers, but it was enough to make them took cover in the nearby benches and pillars.

While both sides were in a standstill, the two idiots started their bickering.

"Damn it, this is getting rather dangerous. Thank God I brought this guy with me."

"A gun? Wait a minute, aren't you supposed to be a magician? Can't you just use some magic on them?"

"First of all, due to some circumstances, I can't use any magic right now. Second of all, I'm American."

"Being an American doesn't explain why a teenager can have a gun!"

"Sure it does."

"Okay, I'll admit their policies are a little bit loose, but that's no reason for them to be handing out guns to minors!"

"Yet, here I am. A minor with a gun. Handed out by the American government themselves."

"You're lying, right? Please, tell me you're lying!"

_(I'm lying. There's no way the US government have the same type of weapon just like this.)_

Despite being experienced in street fights and life and death battle, Kamijou Touma is a complete amateur in guns and weaponry.

For that very reason, He wouldn't understand that the sidearm Wilfred drew before was actually one of the most deadliest and the rarest weapon in the world. No, not even a professional magician or gunsmith would understand. After all, it was something that was not supposed to exist in the world.

If the Anglicans knew about the existence of the weapon, they would unanimously agree that the weapon contained the same threat level just like Index Librorum Probihitorum.

There were no legends, no myths, no records, no mention at all in history about the existence of the gun; the only trace from the weapon were trails of blood from its victims. For now, it's a story for another time.

_(Right now, it's just a normal gun though. Dammit, this is not a very convenient situation.)_

The same kind of circumstances that blocked his usage of magic also reduced the demonic weapon into a normal gun.

A clear disadvantage, and yet interesting nonetheless.

With a very dangerous and completely insane plan in mind and wide smirk on his face, Wilfred started his counterattack.

* * *

St. Vitus Cathedral was one of the 'branch' of the Roman Catholic magical society and the main seat for Archdiocese of Prague.

Simply put, it was one of the main headquarters for the Roman Catholics and thus possess a numerous amounts of magicians, be it battle nuns or combat specialist priests.

Because the cathedral contained most of the Roman Catholics holy relics and several spiritual items, the strength and numbers of the magicians are not to be toyed with. They're powerful enough to be classified as one of the most elite comparable to the Knights of England and the Warlocks of Gaels.

Or at least they were supposed to be.

"Damn it, they hit this place too."

When Leivinia Birdway entered the secret vault room within the Cathedral, the cathedral which contained the relics and was supposedly guarded by dozens of Roman Catholic magicians were completely devoid of life.

Not a single trace of magicians or guards existed in the cathedral, except several spiritual items lying around the floor.

Miraculously, the holy relics inside the vault were left intact.

("No, it's not a miracle. Whoever did this were not going after the relics and artifacts. They were targeting the magicians guarding the cathedral.")

The same thing were happening all over Central Europe. Magicians and cabals disappearing one after another. The leaders of big magical organization in disarray. Confusion. Chaos. It's all over the place.

Even several of the Dawn-Colored Sunlight 'branches' also disappeared. This was the main reason why Birdway did this investigation and why she was in such an unhappy mood.

That... might be a bit of an understatement.

"...Hmm...?"

Birdway felt a sudden uneasiness in the air when she entered the room, but she shrugged it off.

At first, she thought it was the remains from the magical protection being dissipated by some kind of a penetrating spell.

But now, that uneasiness was slowly becoming more... unnerving.

She could sense it.

It was faint, but she could sense it.

A trace of a sickening magic within the air.

_(...The type and alignment of the miasma... Similar and repeated occurrences of a progenitor curse... This is... a **[****M****archone Gateway]**...? This is getting too troublesome, even with my standards.)_

Birdway was not in a happy mood when she discovered the nature of the magic left within that vault.

It was certain that whoever casted that magic is a very troublesome opponent.

Furthermore, there were also problems in Warsaw about the multi-typed criminal and the spiky haired boy with a special right hand. In her heart, it only serves as oil to the fire. Nope, that was a mistake. I don't even know she had a heart.

Although the two were crucial for her plans, Birdway decided to ignore the issue and focus into the disappearance.

The reason she ignored the issue wasn't because she thought up another master plan and discard the two. But because she know that the two so-called idiots would be able to get out of that situation on their own.

One might have suspected that Birdway has a certain type of faith to the two and she trusted that the two would come out safe. These were likely the typical thoughts of people with optimistic or hopeless romantic as a trait or people who read too much manga.

However, the truth is Birdway's reasoning was not as emotional and fluffy like a manga heroine.

1+1=2, that was obvious.

Sun rise from the east, that was obvious.

Human cannot reproduce with eggs like chicken, that was obvious.

Kamijou Touma and Wilfred Reed successfully dodged the government forces and the terrorists and came out alive, that was obvious.

It was as simple as that.

A person might argue that the reasoning itself was a type of faith, but there are fundamental difference in the basics of her so-called faith.

The type of 'faith' Birdway held on to was on the same base with the ruthless calculus where people's lives were reduced to mere numbers.

In the end, the numbers of lives gone after Birdway walked out of that Cathedral will be the turning point of this story.

* * *

Styil Magnus was dumbfounded.

With his usual priest attire and barcodes on his cheek complete with the earrings and other accessory, those items gave him a special look and appearance of a badass priest.

Unfortunately, at this moment, his face wore a very comical surprised face unbefitting of his personality.

His jaw dropped into such a ridiculous length, people might mistaken him for a manga character.

The reason?

As you all might have guessed, it was the report circulating within the Polish law enforcement that someone with a similar appearance with a certain level 0 from Academy City was a part of a terrorist group that caused major damage in one of the local hospital in Warsaw.

This report contained many speculations and prejudice, so only the upper rank officers and high-value government officials knows about it and they kept it hidden from the media, hounding for the truth.

However, acting based on speculations were unthinkable for the police officers in Europe in this modern days, and keeping the public blind while a terrorist attack is ongoing was absolutely ridiculous.

Someone must have forced them to into it, someone possessing high political influence in the Polish government, someone with powerful hold in Europe.

Someone that wanted Kamijou Touma.

"What the hell is that hot-headed idiot gotten himself into now?"

A few days earlier it was impossible for him to such exasperated line about the boy.

A few days earlier someone precious to him cried because of the boy's reckless actions.

(If you really are alive, than I'm going to make you pay for making her cry like that.)

It was supposed to be a terrifying thought that one would mistake for a killing intent.

His face was supposed to form a terrifying image of a God of vengeance avenging his malicious foe.

Instead, his surprised face from before slowly changed into a thin smile.

He might not have realized it himself, but he made a thin smile.

"Prepare yourself, Kamijou Touma. If you really are alive, I'm going to give you a divine punishment for leaving her alone."

* * *

**Welcome back folks to another afterwords of this fic. Hope you had a good day and a refreshing morning/afternoon/night, whichever time you're reading this.**

**Allright, on to the main topic.**

**Does anyone know why I can't combine the letter '!' and '?' in fanfiction?**

**I've been forced to use ****?-! or !-? to combine the two and you've gotta admit - it's feels kinda... off.**

******Yes, yes. I know it's rather trivial but that was actually really important in expressing the situation in a writing. Is there some kind of a bug in the system or something?**

*******sigh* well, no use in complaining about it. Might as well move on. ON TO THE NEXT ONE!**

******PS: Can anyone guess what manga Saten was reading? Like I thought, it was too simple, wasn't it?**


	5. It's a Cruel World

**Another long absence... I guess this makes me a crappy writer. Aaah... doesn't matter. Just read on.**

* * *

Chapter 5: The Envy and Greed of Human That Forms Conspiracies. _It's_A_Cruel_World_

* * *

Hunted down by terrorists, being a fugitive in a foreign country for a crime I don't even know what, and now I got two police special-ops shooting at me, with only a run-down vending machine between me and hails of bullets.

The climax of misfortune is here already. Oh, joy.

Fukou da.

Right now, the magician next to me seems to have some kind of a plan to get out of this situation, but I won't trust him that much.

He was the one who caused all of this mess after all.

* * *

_3 hours ago, Chapter 2.1_

* * *

Following his lead, I began running away with bullets swatting all around me.

Running from danger has always been my greatest ability with all the time I spent with Academy City's delinquents. Thanks to that, I could caught up to the idiotic coward right in front of me.

"How the hell could you leave me alone like thaaaatttttt!"

"Leaving the other person behind is the first step in running away, sorry if that's inconvenient for you."

As the two of us weaved in and out alternately through stairs, corridors and hallways in panic. Several minutes later, through a very rare miracle that happened in my life, somehow the terrorists have lost track of their targets, which is us, unfortunately.

"What the hell just happened? Did a group of terrorists just attacked the hospital?"

I desperately suppressed the urge to sit down right where I was and sighed as I stared into the person next to me, hoping for some answers.

"They're not exactly terrorists, they're a wet-team with special expertise in silently destroying an entire army within their base without triggering a single alarm. Their handiworks at Dubai, Russia, and North Korea were pretty famous; they even did several works for Academy City. Quite an interesting bunch, don't you think?"

This guy, Wilfred's expression seemed rather relaxed despite saying something completely dangerous.

I, Kamijou Touma, being an unfortunate person I am, silently screaming 'Fukouuuuu daaaaa!' inside my head.

Alright, alright. Focus Kamijou Touma! Focus! Okay, first of all, how the hell did this happened?

Several days ago, I woke up in a hospital in a foreign country, Poland to be precise, after punching an angel while falling from 3000m above the sky.

...Wow, thinking back it was actually a very crazy idea. Gah! My life was horrid. Okay, continue.

Then, I found out I was recovered by the Dawn-Colored Sunlight. A magic cabal owned by Leivinia Birdway, a little girl I met before that tricked me into raiding an empty armored car, causing me and Mark Space, her subordinate, to face off against the Anti-Skill personnel. Where is that girl, anyway? I know it's improper of a boy my age to punch a little girl her age, but her attitude made me want to change my ways.

...Then again, she would probably throw some fireballs or some other scary magic she had. I had this 'Let sleeping dogs lie' policy applied to Misaka, I guess I should apply this to Birdway as well.

Anyway, several days later, there were suddenly a lot of men with guns coming for me, a huge explosion right on top of my head, and a really mysterious + annoying magician person appeared with a 'come with me if you want to live' attitude.

...

...

Like I thought! It doesn't add up! Why is a military group with a very scary stealth and combat skill suddenly wanted kill me? How the hell did this happened?

Considering the situation right now, Imagine Breaker is no good against those terrorists. Since this magician, Wilfred Reed, was able to identify the terrorists back there, He must have know more about the situation right now. I can't think of any other reason of him saving my life unless he is Birdway's subordinate. Right now, I better put my trust in him a little.

Eh? wait a minute. _Stealth_? _Silent_?

"If they're so experienced in silently destroying an army, then what was that explosion just now?"

Unexpectedly, he quickly answered with a simple shrug.

"Oh,_ that_. Well, that was me."

So much for trusting the guy.

"What? What for? You almost killed me back there!"

Then he answered with a nonchalant attitude.

"It's a part of my plan, if the government heard about an explosion within their public infrastructure like this hospital and there were sightings of armed soldiers with unknown affiliation. They would quickly assumed that it was a terrorist attack and then they will send a counter-terrorist group to get rid of the terrorists while we get out of this hospital in the confusion. Whaddya think? "

Is this guy for real? He's throwing up the problematic part into another people!

He must've noticed my irritated face, since he continued with an annoyed look.

"What? you're not going to complain, are you? Besides, if you think about it carefully, isn't it the job of this country's law enforcement to deal with terrorists like that?"

If he puts it that way, I guess it was perfectly logical. It kinda leaves a bad aftertaste, running away from terrorists while there are people still inside this hospital. But no matter how you look at it, I'm still just a normal person with a special right hand; I don't think even Imagine Breaker can deal with terrorists that doesn't use any supernatural ability like esper powers or magic.

I know that.

I know that... but still!

"Okay, hero. Stop clenching your fist like that with a scary face. That fist of yours can't solve every problem in this world. Leave the troublesome things to the experts."

"But then-!"

"Listen up."

The magician, Wilfred Reed, suddenly changed his nonchalant attitude into a very cold one. It contained a sense of urgency and contempt, one so deep that it caused me to closed my mouth and stare at him silently.

"Right now, those terrorists target are not the hospital or the government. It's_ you._ And the longer you stay here, the longer those terrorist are in this hospital, which also means higher chances of more people in this hospital to end up hurt or dead every single second."

I didn't answer back or make any retort, because sadly, a part of myself recognized what he said as a fact.

It's really irritating.

"Which means, to save more people, I have to get you out of this place as fast as I could. I have no wish of seeing this place turns into a scene of bloodbath and I'm sure you'll agree with me on this."

He must have realized I couldn't still accept that truth because he continued with a rather menacing tone.

"...Or, you could go back there, face those terrorists alone and go die miserably. Your choice, Kamijou."

* * *

That was what happened.

Of course, things didn't go as planned.

For example, even though we're supposed to be out from the hospital in a flash. We're still stuck in the hospital and instead of fighting just the terrorists, we also have to face against the Poland government forces.

Another example, we're taking cover behind a big vending machine from two special ops police officers (actually, is it even allowed for a police officer to have the same kind of work like the special forces?) shooting at us with some kind of _non-lethal_ riot bullets. And I have to tell you, even though there's an emphasis on the _non-lethal_ part, that doesn't mean it's completely harmless.

I realized that, first hand, when Wilfred threw me out of the vending machine cover.

I realized that those special ops police officers began pulling the trigger with the laser dot pointing at my chest.

I realized the sharp pain appearing all over my body where the laser dot were aimed.

I realized a distinct sound of another gun, fired twice right behind me.

I realized those shots hit their intended targets with the scream of the two special ops police officers.

I realized I was being used as bait by that magician Wilfred.

I realized how much I'm starting to hate that bastard.

With those those realizations haunting my thoughts, my head started feeling dizzy, my mind started going blank, and in the very near future my head is going to have a reunion with the cafeteria's wooden floor.

It seems like I'm going to be unconscious for a while... Oh, I should add that to the list of my unfortunate realizations.

Fukou da

* * *

I put aside the sleeping Kamijou into the white concrete. Wait, I think 'throw' might be a better term than 'put'. Trust me, after all he put me through, the guy deserves this.

Right now, Kamijou and I are in the sub-basement storage room, right below the parking lot. Don't even ask how we got here. Sneaking out from 5 floors filled with people trying to catch us with guns and surveillance equipment without using magic, all the while, carrying the unconscious Kamijou really deserves 5 times my usual pay. Damn it, I should have asked more from that Birdway kid.

Then again, she didn't hire me to save Kamijou, it's a safe bet she won't even pay me after this job. I also kinda made a fool of her with that Vardogr magic in Prague. Instead of paying me, I think she's going to kill me.

By the way, Vardogr is a magic based on the Scandinavian folklore about a child dying of a disease wishing for his parents to be happy even though he will die. However, the child understand that his parents could very well commit suicide if he die. So, he dug out a corpse of a similar child in a cemetery and then he put it in his bed just before the night it was predicted he would die. Then he went inside the corpse's coffin and died in that cemetery. The next day, the child's parents went into the child's room, finding the child soundly asleep on his bed. Still alive.

Kinda creepy, isn't it?

Long story short, it's kinda the same with doppelganger. Creating a body double of your own, using the materials and value combined from a corpse's remains with appearance most similar to the caster's. There are still issues of distance and period of activation, but that's a problem another time.

My most recent problem right now is to stop this idiot, who apparently woke up due to the impact with the concrete, from strangling my neck, let's fix it starting with a sharpshooter hold!

"Kuh... I said... quit it... you bastaaaarrrrrrdddd...!"

"Guhaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnn!"

That's right! Scream you piece of shit! Taste the might of Wilfred Reed directly with your bones! Muahahaha!

What? Wrong character? Okay, fine. Whatever you want, Idjits.

"I say... why are you strangling me the moment you woke up? It's rude to do that to a person who just saved your life."

"It's kinda rude to purposely let the person you're supposed to save get into danger. And you let me GET SHOT ALL OVER?"

"Oh? I heard you were a very selfless person. Since when did you turn very selfish like this?"

"Caring about my life is definitely cannot be counted as selfish! Besides, I already heard that all of the patients and hospital staffs has been evacuated. So there's no need to worry about other people."

True, true, his face did kinda lit up when I mentioned it from the reports I've been hearing from the walkie-talkie we took, what a goody two-shoes.

"No need to worry about other people? Aren't you worried about the anti-terrorist force in the hospital? I really thought you were just gonna charge in when I told you they're losing."

"Even though I'm worried quite a bit about the casualties those police officers and BOA operatives sustained at the hospital. Since they were also after me for some reason, then it can't be helped."

Heh, this person turned out to be surprisingly logical. Who would have thought?

"H-hey... Wil..."

"What?"

"...G-guah... I-isn't this quite enough...?"

Oh, right. The sharpshooter hold. It's kinda surprising this guy can talk in the process of his bone and muscle being broken. I guess he already reached his limit. Fine, I can be nice most of the time.

"Fuaahhh... Finally, I can breath."

"If you do something as ridiculous as that again, I'll break the rest of your bones."

"...You do realize I'm still feeling all sore and wobbly from those guns shooting me all over. Right, whose fault was that again?"

We stopped for a while. Staring at each other with the same kind of atmosphere like a cheetah staring at a gazelle.

...Hmm... Which one was the cheetah and which one was the gazelle? Frankly, I'm not really sure. I prefer being the cheetah, but Kamijou's predatory gaze doesn't really suit a gazelle.

Suddenly, my mind was alarmed by the current situation at hand. Why the hell am I relaxing like this in the middle of a terrorist situation? This is just a waste of time.

"Fair enough." I took an item from my pocket and offered it as a consolation gift for Kamijou. "Here, with this we're even."

Kamijou frowned. "Chocolates? Is this a chocolate with a special healing magic inside it?"

I snorted. "If it did, I'd be the healthiest man in the world. Nah. It just tastes good. Besides, it's not like a chocolate with healing properties could do any good for you. Especially, if you had a hand like that."

"Oh, okay then. We're even... Of course, we're not!" Kamijou said sternly. "You made me went through hundreds of gunshots! Do you really think you would be easily forgiven with a chocolate?"

"Shut up, it's just 19 shots. It's not even close to a hundred. Don't worry about your bruises and your concussions. Experience tells me its going to heal in the next 8 hours. Let nature do its work."

Kamijou made a face that said, 'Why do I keep running into this kind of unreasonable people?'

Welcome to my world.

"Hey, where are we? This looks like a storage room. You said we were getting out of here. Did you have some kind of a weapon that can break through the police barricade?"

"Nope, nothing that grand."

"Then what are we doing here?"

Just as suspected, despite all that he'd gone through he is still an amateur in this field. As a senior I should at least guide him, at least with that he won't end up in a ditch somewhere as a corpse.

"Because..."

I said matter-of-factly with a smile like a monkey trainer training a monkey some playful tricks.

"This room is the deepest room in the hospital. And right beneath this hospital, there is a sewer system with connections throughout the whole city. A small amount but highly concentrated corrosive acid will be enough to breach the foundation. So stand aside unless you want your ankle bone revealed through your skin!"

* * *

Something weird is going on here.

That was what Accelerator long experiences with the dark side of Academy City told him.

He is now in a temporary base in Russia made by Academy City, used **_officially_** for war relief, recovery of Academy City-made weaponry, and treating the injured casualties of war. Notice the emphasis on officially.

Unofficially? The base was originally made by Academy City Board of Director to restrain Accelerator and his group. Of course, technically Accelerator could just overwhelm them, but he chose not to do so.

Most likely, that was because the Board of Director is still divided in opinion regarding Accelerator's threat. Some, like Oyafune Monaka, wanted to use this chance to abolish the existence of the city's dark side. While others, like Shiokishi, insisted that the dark side is a necessary part of the city and wanted Accelerator to be eliminated. That was why the temporary base was supposed to be supplied with many anti-esper technology.

Yes, that base was supposed to be installed with anti-esper technology, such as Capacity Down and the like. However, a certain group of sisters with identical faces had managed to sabotage the shipment. Likely, under the request of their child-like superior. Because of that failure, the discussion regarding Accelerator's ultimatum had reached a stalemate.

So, until the directors reach their decisions, Accelerator and company was allowed residence inside the base. With his strength as the strongest level 5, the little girl with her connection to 10.000 Radio Noise clones of Misaka Mikoto, another level 5, and not to mention another clone of hers called Misaka WORST with a level 4 electromaster ability. Accelerator was certain that it was just a matter of time.

Sooner or later, the Board of Directors has to concede to his demands.

That was why Accelerator planned to spend his days in the base keeping watch to Academy City's actions. Just in case if they ever had any more surprises up in their sleeves.

Misaka WORST suggested stealing a helicopter and just fly back to Academy City, an idea which Accelerator was surprisingly fond of, however he dismissed the suggestion because the ones guarding the transportation was high level espers and just knocking them down is not going to be as easy as before, so killing them is the only possible option. Accelerator has no doubt that he could defeat them all, however that means hurting people in front of Last Order and he would like to avoid it as much as possible.

That was why Accelerator had stayed in Russia after delivering his ultimatum to the Board of Directors.

He expected that the Board of Directors will submit to his conditions and his days inside this base will be nothing but ordinary.

However, his experience taught him to be more wary. And as he was doing his routine checks inside the base, ominous signs could be spotted around the base.

For example, in a certain makeshift tent, a guard looked like he's asleep but his throat was actually slit.

For example, the keypad lock of a certain door leading to a restricted area has been hacked.

For example, a fortified vault inside that restricted area has been forced open with a silent non-explosive bomb.

"From the smell of the corpse and the faint scent of gunpowder, it seems like the break-in happened a long time ago, maybe yesterday after I've done my daily checks. Shit, why in the hell does those fuckers even need a vault inside a temporary base?"

"Misaka heard those vaults has special mechanism that allows it to be easily packed and unpacked. It's kinda like a portable vaults that can safely transport important shipment across the world. They were probably transporting something from the battlefield."

Accelerator and Misaka WORST glanced into the wide empty space inside vault. Somehow, they managed to found out about the intruder earlier than anyone else, so they were the only ones inside that broken vault.

"Yeah, maybe Academy City sent some kind of weapon here. And when they wanted to transport it back, someone else stole that weapon... Tch, what an annoyance."

As they continued their search, they came upon to a yet another ominous signs.

"Hey, tou-san, look at this here."

Hearing that, Accelerator turned his sight into where WORST was pointing, an ipad. No, maybe it would be better to mention it as a device that looked like an ipad. Since the device were attached with numerous other electronic items with various purposes, the ipad-like device gave off the feeling of a futuristic machine. Such a device would be as expected from the city where the pinnacle of science reside.

But still, no matter how futuristic it looks. The two that came from the dark side of that city didn't show any surprise to the machine. In fact, as Misaka WORST operated the console, the function of the device turned out to be quite simple. It contained warnings, operation procedures, and contingency plans for emergencies. Mostly things like that. Though it may be valuable to oppose Academy City, Accelerator and Misaka WORST doesn't need anything like that. The two were already familiar with how Academy City agents works.

The thing that _does _piqued their interests were the most recent inbox message in the device, presumably sent by the higher-ups from Academy City. Misaka WORST slowly scrolled into the content of the message.

* * *

**_TO ALL LOGISTIC PERSONNEL_**

_Due to the ceasefire agreement from both sides._

_Every Titan-class armaments deployed in the battlefield were to be transported back into the city for safekeeping._

_However, there were an incident 12 hours ago where several classified weapons, here to be referred to as Alpha, has been stolen by an unidentified group with purpose unknown, the group shall be referred here as Grey Fox, ._

_It is vital that an investigation to be committed towards the Grey Fox who stole Alpha._

_For Alpha, while outdated compared to the most recent weapons we had in our inventory, is still a property of Academy City._

_If Alpha were to be used against an individual or an organization that does not possess any knowledge regarding our technology, the result will be catastrophic._

_Therefore, to prevent the incident on Alpha from happening again, we have authorized the usage of portable vault "Ardent Shield" in transporting weapons and armaments from the battlefield. W__e have also dispatched escort groups to help guard the logistic efforts._

_While investigations on the Grey Fox are still ongoing, all personnel are urged to give any form of cooperation requested by the investigation team regarding the incident._

_All Academy City personnel in Russia are now under Condition-24. Precaution and Vigilance are a necessity._

* * *

"Well now, Misaka think this is quite an interesting turn of event."

Misaka WORST had her devilish grin as she spoke. On the contrary, Accelerator put on an uninterested and bored look, then he quietly walked out of the empty vault.

"H-hey! Don't just run off like that! Aren't you curious on this so-called Grey Fox and Alpha? This Grey Fox described in the notice are definitely the ones responsible here."

"Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with me. I thought the breach were from Academy City's dark side, so I agreed to check it out. Turns out, it's just a waste of time. "

"Ho? And here Misaka thought that you, being the king of the boy scouts you are, might want to do hero stuff and save us all from this Alpha... thing... whatever it is."

"Are you stupid? Why would I even waste my time fixing those bastard's mess? This should be a lesson for them not to keep their stuff lyin' around. And besides..."

As he walked along a twilit path, Accelerator stared blankly as if he were deep in thought. Then, he slowly muttered in a low voice.

_"...All those stuff about heroes. I just don't care about that... Not anymore."_

Misaka WORST tilted her head questioningly because she couldn't hear what Accelerator just muttered. But then she shrugged her shoulders, probably because she couldn't care less about it.

"Anyway, it doesn't seem like that vault is something Academy City can mass produce in a short time, considering the thickness of the steel and the safety mechanisms put inside. Misaka is more surprised that these Grey Fox were able to stole something from the vault itself."

"...Your point being?"

"Think about it, if there are only a limited number of those portable vaults deployed in the battlefield and the battlefield actually spanned all across the world. It's only logical that those logistic personnel will put every single piece of equipment as much as possible inside the vault until it's full. "

"...You mean..."

"Yes, since that vault the size of a tank just now were empty. Misaka guess that this Grey Fox must be having a field party right now. Misaka pities whoever it is their target right now."

* * *

"...What was that...?"

The constantly unfortunate boy, Kamijou Touma, was turning his head left and right for no apparent reason.

What's with this chill? Kamijou is extremely puzzled by it.

"What are you doing?". Naturally, his current companion complained with a 'Haa... what is this guy up to now?' expression.

"Nothing... My bad luck must be acting up again. Maybe it's the sewers."

Wilfred raised his eyebrows in response. "Sewers huh..."

He take another look into his surroundings. Mold on the walls, shallow puddles along the sewers, pipes on the ceilings. All in all, it was the perfect example of a typical sewer.

"Dark, damp and smells like crap. Yeah, it's a sewer alright. I'm just thankful I stole-... I mean, brought a boots when I came here." said Wilfred in a mixture of disgust and relief. His face darkened when he saw a drop of water dripping from the pipes fell down unto his brown jacket. "Should've brought a raincoat too."

On a side note, Kamijou had changed into a blue jacket and light brown jeans earlier. It would be ridiculous to enter a sewer with a hospital gown, after all. Although, Kamijou was curious as to how could Wilfred obtained an outfit that suited him amidst all the chaos.

What made him curious was the suspiciously big laughter the magician made when Kamijou pressed the matter. Since there were more pressing issues, Kamijou gave up and dropped the subject.

Right now, Kamijou is in his lowest mood-level. It seems the bruises from earlier gunshots and his horrible mental state from continuous streak of bad luck had taken its toll in him.

In an attempt to somehow ease his own burden, Kamijou forced his mind to remember happier moments about his life when he was stuck in a similar situation.

"Y'know... I really prefer Academy City's sewers than this. It was surprisingly clean and the air was also refreshing in a way."

"...Seriously? So, you're telling me you've had so many troubles, it made you familiar with Academy City's sewers? Geez, how much bad luck you've had in your life anyway?"

Critical Hit! Kamijou Touma received 6760 damage from mental trauma.

"...Oi, Kamijou? You're okay up there? Helloooooo."

Wilfred started waving his hand in front of the petrified Kamijou's face.

". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "

"Shit, he's gone. Did I mess him too much?"

". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."

"...Well, whatever. Come on, we've got a long way to cover."

* * *

After another hour of walking down the sewers. They came upon to a rather disastrous bad sign.

"A SKELETON?"

"I think so."

"What do you mean 'I think so'? Its a freaking skeleton!"

"'I think so' means I agree that you are right. It's a skeleton. Look, there's the bones, there's the head. It's very bony looking... Oh, and he had a rifle. Mauser 98k. How surprising."

"No! That's not the point! How could you be so calm? It's a real skeleton!"

Unlike the terrified Kamijou, Wifred posed a questioning look.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"W-why you... What I meant was... Aargh, never mind."

Wilfred focused his eyes into the skeleton.

From the decomposition of the bones, the poor bastard was dead 60 years ago. Probably from the World War II. Judging from his pelvis and chest size, it was a male. Unless, he had a gender transplant and flat-chested, otherwise it's a 'she'. Nah, scratch that. Gender transplant doesn't exist 60 years ago. Clothes rugged and muddy, understandable after years inside this crappy sewers. It also has a swastika badge clearly knitted in his chest.

This poor bastard was a Nazi soldier. From the stylized 'Armanen' sig runes, he was also a member of the Schutzstaffel. I guess he's not that poor after all. He's definitely a bastard though.

"I don't get it." Kamijou suddenly said.

"...You're thinking, how could the government forgot to clean out a Nazi corpse after all this years."

From his nod, Wilfred's guess was probably right.

"Well, for starters." Wilfred straightened himself. "This person was probably one of the leftover back in the '45. I heard the occasional news of how some Belgian kids found a stash of World War II explosives right underneath their playground and things similar to that. This must be the same case with our Nazi friend here."

"You mean they were forgotten... It was just as simple as that."

"Yeah, well. In a city engulfed in war, orders and important papers are usually misplaced or misunderstood. It was quite understandable, really. People tend to do things most unexpectedly when their lives are in their danger. And let's not forget the occasional looting, sacking, and plundering. Sometimes accompanied with mild raping, but it's not very common these days. Not by much, anyway."

"I see..."

Wilfred continued his explanation with a mixed expression.

"There's still some mystery about this corpse though."

"...And what is that?"

"What was a member of the Nazi SS terror group doing inside a Polish sewer that got him killed? Hoho... It would appear that the plot thickens."

"...Mind telling me why you're so happy about it?"

"It's obvious, isn't it? I mean, who doesn't like mysteries? Wouldn't miss this for the world!"

Wilfred was overcome with joy from a detective-like reason.

Kamijou had sensed it a bit during their first meeting, but he had a good feeling now that that boy had a very excitable and simplistic thought patterns. Some of his judgement was made based on what he thought was the most interesting choice. It's the same kind of feeling just like when he had met Lessar in Russia. Although, she's a lot more self-centered.

Kamijou had a feeling something terrible is about to happen if he lets the magician roam free. Luckily, a quick and simple solution came to mind.

"I don't want to interrupt your crime scene investigation, but..."

"What, what?"

"Can you at least explain how is this relevant to our situation right now?"

"..."

"..."

They fell silent because obviously there's no such connections.

Just because they encountered a mysterious phenomenon in their adventure, that doesn't mean there is a connection between their journey and the phenomenon.

"Well, let's just move along now, shall we?"

"Right, right. It's a long way out of this city. Just hang on for bit, okay?"

As a form of last rite, Wilfred whispered a prayer to the corpse.

With the excitement about the Nazi skeleton mystery faded away. They resumed their journey to escape the city.

Yes.

Just because they encountered a mysterious phenomenon in their adventure, that doesn't mean there is a connection between their journey and the phenomenon.

Or so it should have been…

_"jakbyśmy potrzebowali boga by karać się nawzajem"_

A sound as cold as ice echoed throughout the silent sewers.

Wilfred and Kamijou feels a chill down their spine.

"What was that?"

"That was... Oh, crap. Can we just pretend like it was nothing?"

"This is no time to joke around! I clearly heard something. It sounded Polish... at least I think it was."

"Polski, Kamijou, Polski. Polish is the people. Polski is the language."

"Can we have this discussion later? I'm going to check-..."

"STOP! DON'T LOOK BACK!"

Kamijou was about to turn around to the direction they came from when Wilfred stop him with a fierce yell.

Kamijou was about to ask why, but the voice never came.

The answer of '"why'", however, showed up in a rather surprising way.

A remarkably loud shriek rang out.

The two of them, including Wilfred who warned not to look back, unconsciously turned around.

Something was amiss.

Something was missing.

The skeleton's gone.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! what's the meaning of this?-! Ghost? Undead? You've got to be kidding me!"

"See? I knew you shouldn't have look back!"

"Hey! You looked back too! What's the deal with not looking back anyway?"

"Something really interesting and scary is about to happen. But I'm not really fond of dying, so I'm going ahead."

"Huh? Wait. What's going on?"

"No time! Run. NOW!"

Wilfred frantically ran ahead Kamijou, leaving the bewildered Kamijou Touma behind (again).

Confused, Kamijou once again turned around into the direction where the skeleton used to reside.

He doesn't see anything beside the interior of the smelly and damp sewer.

Correction.

He_ can't_ see anything beside the interior of the smelly and damp sewer.

Kamijou felt it.

His instinct that formed a precognition-like skill after dozens of life and death battle is screaming inside his head.

_Something's coming._

Then, a strange phenomenon occurred.

the shallow sewer water, the moldy walls, the pipes above the ceilings.

All of it was frozen with a strange supernatural power.

Solid frozen ice, like the ones at the North Pole, is starting to form from the place where the skeleton used to be.

However, unlike the ones at the North Pole, the ice was pure black.

A face of a person can be seen inside the ice.

No.

Not just a person.

There were many faces.

All of them blind.

All of them disfigured.

All of them wailed.

All of them screamed.

Only one thing mattered most to Kamijou Touma in this moment.

_All of them are as scary as hell! A-are those faces really ghosts? Kyaahhh!_

"Wh-what in the world...?" the last common sense in Kamijou's mind unconsciously muttered in disbelief.

Their screaming suddenly stopped when Touma muttered those insignificant words.

Suddenly, their blind eye stared wide at the boy.

The black ice changed itself into a spear-like form. By this time, warning sirens started sounding inside Kamijou's brain.

Accompanied with a horrifying scream, the 'black spear' lunged itself into Kamijou.

_They're coming._

Instead of running, Kamijou stood his ground against the black spear.

He doesn't know how powerful these spears are. But as long as it is magic, he doesn't need to know how powerful it is.

Kamijou's Imagine Breaker could destroy any kind of supernatural power even if it was one of god's miracles.

He clenched his right hand that holds absolute power over the supernatural.

Kamijou Touma made a simple but accurate straight punch.

The punch connected into the tip of the spear and a sound of a broken glass rang out.

_Got it!_

The black ice shattered like glass and the black color of the shrapnel gradually changed into normal white ice.

Kamijou Touma was smiling in relief of overcoming the obstacle.

But that doesn't last very long.

Kamijou Touma's smiling expression stiffened awkwardly.

That was because the oppressing cold chill has become even thicker.

As if on cue, another black ice filled with disfigured faces appeared, replacing the previous one.

And then another.

And then another.

And then another.

Eventually all those black ice changed its form into spears.

In this narrow sewer, around 30-40 black ice spears with reflection of disfigured faces and their wailing screams has appeared.

Kamijou Touma, starting to understand why his companion chose to run away, turned pale.

Imagine Breaker might be strong against magic, but it is not absolute.

Especially against a huge number of enemies, Kamijou is confident he can destroy 2 or 3 of the spears. But 40?

Kamijou glanced into the path where Wilfred took off before, and started running like hell in that direction.

**_"DAAAAAAMMNN IIIIIIT! FUKOU DAAAAA!"_**

Echoing screams of Kamijou Touma and the disfigured-faces-in-ice resounded throughout the sewers.

* * *

For the main topic this afternoon: the sewers of Warsaw is rather noisy today. The metal railings made a loud rattling sounds due to a couple of running footsteps, plus there are sounds of two boys screaming in horror and not to mention a real scream of horror originating from the hollow ice spears.

Without any regards or conscience regarding human rights, the spears of black ice were floating in the air, chasing and targeting their vital spots. On the other hand, finding a weapon with a human conscience might be a marvelous find.

"Damn it, Kamijou! Why did you drag these things here? If you want to die, do it yourself!"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up! If you ended up a swollen face after I punch you, I won't be held responsible!"

A spear lunged itself into Wilfred's chest, which he dodged with a 180 backward flip, which, surprisingly, he'd accomplish marvellously while running right next to Kamijou.

The magic itself seems to have some kind of a limitation since every time a spear lunged at them and missed, it immediately dissolve into thin air. However, after that, a newly formed black ice appeared mysteriously right next to the other spears.

"Aargh! That was close! Rather than that, how did you caught up so quickly anyway? I'm pretty sure I already ran half a mile ahead of you."

"Don't you dare underestimate my experience of running away from danger!"

"Do you know how much you sound like a loser when you said that?"

Another spear lunged itself to Kamijou's head. His instinct automatically moved his right hand backward, forming a backhand blow, causing the spear to shatter in a broken glass sound effect when it made contact. This act was also, surprisingly, done without Kamijou reducing his running speed.

"Hey, magician over there! What are these things anyway?"

Kamijou began storming questions to Wilfred while still running, dodging, and negating the black spears.

"Remember when I said there were some Belgian kids that found an explosive cache in their playground?"

"Yeah, so?"

They were interrupted because a spear suddenly appeared in front of Wilfred, and lunged into his face. He easily dodged it by sliding down into the ground. Naturally, since the ground was made out of wet metal railings, some of the sewer also got stuck into his clothing.

"Damn it! My jacket!" Wilfred groaned.

"Wil, watch out!"

A second later, another three ice spears lunged into Wilfred while he was mourning his jacket. Kamijou blocked all three of them with his Imagine Breaker.

"Kamijou! You're buying me a new jacket after this!"

"What? How about a simple thank you for saving your life!"

"Never asked for it!"

A moment of silence appeared (aside from their loud running footsteps, maddening wailing screams, and sound of broken glass from Imagine Breaker negating the black spears). Veins started popping up on Kamijou's forehead.

"...Alright, this Kamijou-sama today is a little angry right now, you know?"

"Fine! I'll take you on anytime!"

They were interrupted, again, by another lunging spear. Kamijou punched it easily with his right hand. But new spears started to form faster than he could destroy it. So they started their running routine again.

Surprisingly, they were still talking like usual when they were running. Adrenaline must have geared up their stamina bar into a ridiculous level.

"Gaaahhh! Why do I always have to run away like this? Hey, Wil! What was it back then about the Belgian kids?"

Even though someone is in the middle of a crisis, it's essential to gather all necessary information if a person wants to survive and live another day. That was what Kamijou Touma had learned in a very hard way.

"Ah, them? The explosives they found actually exploded."

"It did? That's terrible. But I don't see why it matter to us right now."

"What are you talking about? We're in the same situation right here!"

"Heh? We are? H-how is it even similar?"

"That corpse back there was a magic trap made by the Polish magicians during the German occupation. Those magicians must have been a part of the Polish opposition before. Scientific weapons are not the only thing used in that war, you know."

"That corpse was a magic trap? Wait a minute, every trap has a trigger, right? It didn't respond when we touched it before, though. So that means... how did it activate exactly?"

Wilfred groaned for some reason when Kamijou displayed his unusually sharp mind in the middle of a crisis. Kamijou glared at Wil when he started avoiding his gaze.

"…Wil, what was the trigger exactly?" Said Kamijou with a hollow voice.

"I-uh... think -" Wilfred started stammering awkwardly, "Maybe the trigger was... when I said a prayer to the corpse."

"SO IT WAS YOU!"

"Shut up! It was just the trigger mechanism! You shouldn't have listened to that gibberish back there! '"Jakbyśmy potrzebowali boga by karać się nawzajem'", it meant, 'As if we need God to punish ourselves', in other words, it was the name of the spell! **"A Mortal Punishment For Gods"**! That gibberish was a signal for the targeting mechanism to active. The condition for the targets was the fear of the supernatural when their victims turned around to face the invisible God-slaying demons. You also share half the fault when you turned around!"

"YOU ALSO TURNED AROUND, DAMN IT! AND STOP TRYING TO PUT THE BLAME ON ME BY MAKING A TOPIC DIVERSION WITH AN OVERLY LONG AND COMPLICATED EXPLANATION WHEN ALL THE FAULTS ARE CLEARLY ON YOUR HANDS!"

"Tch, failed, huh... You're quite sharp, Kamijou."

"And you are quite an obnoxious bastard!"

While the two main characters are arguing, let's get to the main problems ourselves, shall we?

A Mortal Punishment For God.

It was a magic trap based on the spirits of dead sinners.

They awoken with resentment when a devout prayers to God are heard.

Their murderous hatred towards the God that condemned them to eternal punishment brings about the form a spear, the same weapon that killed the Son of God.

Their cold jealousy towards the living for having a life that they deliberately lost gave them the form of frozen ice, black as their souls are corrupt.

Their fear of death and their wish to be alive gave them a reflection within the ice, they screamed because they can never forget the pain of death.

Those are the foundation of the accursed magic that the magicians of old discovered.

Now, then.

How are those two unlucky idiots going to overcome this death trap?

* * *

**Right, done. Gonna need a beta-reader to fix up any wrong spellings or wrong tense. God knows I'm horrible at this. As usual, any reviews would be much appreciated. Till next time.**


	6. Red Chameleon

**This actually took a while. No worries, no matter how long it takes, no matter how bad or how much of a nonsense it is, I never leave a story unfinished.**

**'Cause there's no worse story than the one that doesn't end.**

* * *

Chapter 6: A One-Sided Crusade of Weapons. _Red_Chameleon_

* * *

"Floating magic spears? Really?" Said Misaka Mikoto in disbelief.

The number 3 level 5 was in a cafe where she frequently hang out with Saten Ruiko, Uiharu Kazari and her roommate, Shirai Kuroko.

However, the person sitting across her seat was none of her aforementioned friends.

"Yes, unfortunately it's really true."

It was Kamijou Touma.

The boy with a mysterious right hand, and the boy Misaka Mikoto apparently fell for. However Kamijou was too dense, he had no idea whatsoever about it.

It was one day after Misaka Mikoto spontaneous declaration on that iron bridge. It was a very rare action of sincerity that Misaka rarely display towards Kamijou. One that Kamijou himself were very grateful of.

Of course, at first Kamijou tried to deny and refuse politely, but Misaka Mikoto was not a girl that you would say no to.

Needless to say Kamijou was thoroughly subdued by her "willfulness".

"Honestly... the sheer amount of troubles following you is just too amazing, I can't retort against it."

"S-sorry, it's just something in my nature, I think."

Wait, why am I apologizing? Thought Kamijou for a moment.

Coincidentally, he invited Misaka to fulfill his promise about giving her a fully detailed explanation. It's the least I could do to someone who was willing to take that kind of risk, was his reasoning. Although, He did it because several parts of his instinct warned him it was the only way to prevent himself from being a lightning rod.

He started his explanation the same way Birdway did previously with Accelerator and Hamazura Shiage. From magic.

Her reactions were, of course, quite skeptical. However, when she found out that magic had a very close connections to the earlier incidents like the 0930, Avignon Incident, British Halloween and the giant castle that appeared out of nowhere yesterday. She was forced to accept the fact that magic actually existed. Even though she's still quite indifferent about it.

As for the Misaka Mikoto herself...

Let's just say the power in Tokiwadai's dorm went out for several hours after she received his phone call. And it was definitely _not_ because of her usual violent temper_._

_I-I see... S-so he wanted to discuss some things, eh?... T-this could be my one and only chance to give out a good impression...! T-there was a website that mentioned something about a cuter clothes having a bigger impact than normal... Should I just wore that frilly outfit Kuroko bought me before...? ...No, no! That's wrong! He might have the wrong idea if I suddenly wore a different outfit than my usual uniform... He called me here because he wanted to explain about things that had happened before, it's not like this is a proper d-d-d-d-d-date, right? B-but then... There are possibilities that I might lose my chances... Damn it! What should I do?-! What should I do?-! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"_

Indeed, what made her mind stayed intact was the fact that Kamijou had called her about a serious matter.

Simply put, her mind insisted it was not an ordinary discussion a high school boy and a middle school girl should talk about in a date-like atmosphere, so it was basically not a date. However, the maiden in her still caused quite a ruckus, and the ensuing brawl inside her mind caused thousands of volts to be discharged. Additionally, it also earned her a very serious discussion with the Dorm Supervisor.

Back to the present, or maybe I should write the flash forward.

After several hours of explaining that could fill out 20 volumes of novel books, traces of shock, amazement and sometimes annoyed reaction could be seen within Misaka Mikoto's face. It's worth mentioning that the annoyed reaction particularly happened when Kamijou started explaining some things about a member of his opposite sex.

For example, around several minutes before...

"You had a princess of England drove you around London like a chauffeur?"

"That's not really... Well, okay, I know it was in the middle of a crisis, but- Whoa! Misaka! Why are you going biri-biri all of a sudden?-!"

"...Ho ho... I see ...A princess, huh? Ho ho... I see, I see, I see..."

"What exactly are you seeing, damn it! Did I do something that made you mad again?"

"...No, no. I'm not mad, I'm not mad at all. _Got to calm down, this is a rare alone chance that I could get with him ever since he came back... Right, have to calm down._"

Like that. The part that was written in italic was muttered in a low voice that Kamijou can't hear.

Although she didn't do any of her usual lightning blast and shots, the small sparks that erupted occasionally during his explanation (it was about... yeah, you can guess what) and cold, harsh smile she had to accompany the sparks somehow scared Kamijou much, much more than her usual trademark railgun.

Usually when that happens it took quite a while for Kamijou to regain his composure and continue his story.

However, there was one part of his story that really confused her.

"That incident you got caught up with in Poland... Why does it feels like that something's just not right."

"Is it about the magic? I know you don't quite believe in magic, but-"

"No! It's not that."

"?"

"What I mean is... Let me just get this straight."

Misaka sent a barrage of questions flying into Kamijou.

"I mean... Wasn't there too much of a coincidence in that? Why did the Dawn-Colored Sunlight took you to Poland, when there were a lot of magician went missing in Europe? What are the odds of you, suddenly discovering an ancient magic trap that suddenly activated and tried to kill you? Why did the BOA forces suddenly decided to hunt you down? And what you told me about that magician, Wilfred, was also kind of weird. Why did he even had to made a clone to fool the leader of the Dawn-Colored Sunlight? ...This is just way too confusing."

Kamijou slowly nodded, recalling the terrible events that had happened before. Yes, he did had a suspicion that the whole thing was packed full of coincidences that piled up into massive amounts of troubles.

Then again, isn't that the kind of things that always happened to him before?

When Kamijou first thought about it, the boy named Wilfred had been suspicious from the beginning. I guess it's understandable, he thought.

Then, he spoke with a low voice.

"You're going to need to hear the whole story."

* * *

Hello everyone, this is Wilfred Reed.

I know the narration is supposed to be based on Kamijou's point of view, but to hell with that.

He gets a date with a cute girl in the future and he gets to narrate the story? Hell no!

Anyway, to keep things short, I'll be as quick and brief as I can.

I'll sum up what happened to us 'till now.

We couldn't tell how many hours we spent trying to get away from those things because my watch was apparently killed-in-action and Kamijou's cellphone had ran out of battery.

My biological clock, however, told us we spent almost one and a half hour.

Exhausted, we took refuge in one of the maintenance room inside the tunnel. The place is filled with pipes and machinery, but at least it's not as wet as the rest of the sewers

The good news is that those spears have stopped chasing us, probably because we went outside of their range. At least we can take a breather in this place.

The bad news is that our closest exit route out of this sewer is in the middle of their tracking area. Which means if we tries to get out, those spears are going to start chasing us again.

There is the option of taking a detour, but I had no idea where we're going to go. I didn't memorize the entire map and blueprint of the sewers, apart from our supposed exit route that is. If we force ourselves to go blind without any directions or anything like that inside this maze-like sewers, we might end up in a place we're not supposed to.

"So we're trapped?-! Eh, considering what happened until now, I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

Kamijou responded dejectedly, however his attitude showed a business-as-usual manner.

"Yeah, this is like a bad movie plot or something... Whoever made this kind of plot is obviously the worst in terms of writing stories. "

Without realizing my obvious reference, Kamijou continued speaking.

"By the way, since we are safe for now. I suggest you start explaining everything that happened."

Kamijou couldn't have me holding back any information. He thought, it would be faster if I just tell him everything. Since Kamijou still doesn't know what exactly is going on and why did he became a fugitive all of a sudden, he clearly have no time to spare.

"Okay, what do you want to know, Your Majesty?" I responded sarcastically.

"...Please tell me where that sarcasm of yours came from, seriously..."

"Do you want the short answer or the long answer?"

"I'll pass, thank you. Now could you please explain the situation?"

Getting used to my annoying sarcasm, Kamijou held back his urge to retort, and decided to get to the main problem as fast as he can.

"Hasty, aren't cha? Fine, let's start at the beginning. Although, you already know what the beginning was."

"...The beginning?"

Remembering that this might be a sensitive matter to Kamijou, I rearranged my words slightly and said out what I thought.

"World War III. I assume you are already familiar with the term, Mr. Hero."

Kamijou Touma's movement stiffened quite a bit. Even thought we were sitting on the ground, he seemed tense like he was forced to stand in a desert in the middle of summer.

"You already know what kind of a madman caused that war, so I'll just skip ahead straight to the point."

Given his previous role in World War III, I don't think he's gonna like what I'm about to say. The sooner this is done, the better.

"Basically, the cause of our current conflict right now is because of a terrorist agency known as the Hunter's Cross. They were a group of vigilantes that has risen to power after the enormous magical incidents that happened all across the world because of World War III."

"You mean the archangel, Misha Kreutzev."

"Exactly so. At first, the Hunter's Cross was actually just a mercenary group, a very skilled one at that, but those kinds of people are not actually rare in the market."

There are a lot of people doing all kinds of dirty jobs in this world. It's already common sense that the more experience you have on doing a job, the better you are on that job. This was the fact that became the basis of the "level up" system in RPG.

"However, in Russia, an archangel was summoned. It destroyed buildings, massacred soldiers, you know what happened. Hell, I almost died myself when one of those golden arms of Telesma appeared from the sea."

I might've sounded like I'm talking about what I had for breakfast, but Kamijou didn't let that comment go unnoticed.

"The golden arms? So, you were in Russia too?"

"Yes, I was. But those golden arms back then appeared not just in Russia, it was a worldwide phenomenon. From Eastern Europe to Asia, from Barcelona to Jakarta, those things appeared everywhere causing a lot of calamities. Pretty ironic since it was supposed to function as one of signs of world purification."

During the rise of the Star of Bethlehem, numerous 100 meters golden arms fueled with Telesma rose out of the ground in response to the signal in the sky that a change is at hand.

The mass of Telesma will then quickly burst and exploded. There were several results of that explosion, some of the arms caused giant shockwave with impact almost equal to a mini nuke, others caused dark clouds containing massive lightning storms to spread in all directions, and maybe there were other aftereffects that came with the explosion of the giant arm. Either way, a phenomenon that goes beyond a world war had been caused by Fiamma of the Right.

However, all of those had been prevented.

Not by a particular individual with a special power.

But by the many sided counterattacks launched by people who wanted to protect this world they lived in.

Kamijou Touma doesn't know for certain, but his instinct told him the magician called Wilfred Reed might be one of such people.

"It was very touching, really. The whole world banded together to fight an unknown threat. The people fought to protect all they hold dear. Very touching indeed."

I spoke cheerily like humming.

"But that's not necessarily a good thing, wasn't it?"

"What?" Kamijou frowned.

"After all." I said while glaring at Kamijou. "What a person hold dear, might be what another despise."

* * *

"Ha. Ma. Zu. Ra! Wake up, you moron!"

Hamazura Shiage was sound asleep when a fist struck his face clean, causing his cheek to swollen up considerably and forcefully cutting him off from his peaceful dream.

He was about to cried out in protest when he noticed Takitsubo Rikou sound asleep (with her eyes open) right next to his seat.

Not wanting to wake her up, Hamazura slowly whispered in protest to the perpetrator that injured his face.

"Mugino! What are you doing? I was having a wonderful dream about bunny girls pole dancing right in front of me! Why do you have to disturb that wonderful dream?"

On the other hand, Mugino Shizuri had a frown on her face and veins popping up on her temples. Even though she was bandaged all over and swimming in a large amount of morphine she doesn't give off the impression of being a frail and weak girl a heavily injured person would have. Instead, what replaced it was the aura of a terrible monster befitting the title of the number 4 esper.

"...Hamazura, what did you mean when you said pole-dancing bunny girls? (Ngeh!) Ah, whatever! I don't have time to yell at you for including me and Takitsubo in your elaborate fantasies. We have some problem here."

"W-wait a minute, Mugino! How did you know I was-"

"So, it really is true what Takitsubo told me about you..."

"...Wh-what? What did she told you?-! Why did I feel like I just lost something important!"

Mugino glared at Hamazura to shut him up.

"Anyway, Are you sure about this? Even if Academy City provided us this plane for a ride back home as a gesture of 'sincerity'. You can't let your guard down for a moment."

"No worries, they won't try anything with the data on Parameter list on our side."

Mugino sighed a little when she heard of Hamazura's optimism.

"...That's just stupid... Going to Academy City to directly negotiate with the Board of Directors is a bold move, I admit. But have you even considered the possibility that they would just take the information about the Parameter List and kill us all to erase all evidence? Even if we hide it, they could use a psychometer or a telepath to wring the information out of our heads."

"...Don't worry, Mugino."

"...!"

Hamazura's suddenly turned serious with a strange presence emanating from his expression.

The presence was so powerful, it even startled Mugino Shizuri, the girl covered in darkness.

"I said it before, I would risk my life so that everyone would return to ITEM. And I meant every single word of it."

Hamazura declared with a completely flat tone of voice.

Only then, did Mugino realized what that presence is.

It was killing intent.

One so powerful that it makes the number 4 level 5 silently cringes on her seat.

* * *

"Do you know about the development of AIM technology in Academy City?" asked the magician, Wilfred Reed.

Kamijou Touma cringes a bit when he heard the term "AIM"

An Involuntary Movement.

The last time his memory recorded about the term called "AIM" was the time when his brain had reached a mental breakdown.

He recalled the nightmarish incident just before the end of the summer break several months ago. The mountain pile of homeworks and reports he had to finish in a single day was beyond the ability of a human being. Add in the trouble with an Aztec magician and a magical azusayumi user named Yamisaka Ouma, it was all hell breaks loose.

Basically, the term AIM also existed within one of his textbook, but his memory was too fuzzy he can't recall anything about AIM except several notes about it being 'some kind of a scientific wave that espers unconsciously emitted'.

There was also a certain scientific angel he saved from an attack in an underground mall. He remembered that her body properties were made out of a mass gathering of AIM field but that's about it.

"Of course I know about that stuff, although I just know that the research project existed. I'm not smart enough to understand the principle of being an esper since I'm just a level 0." Kamijou answered diplomatically, hiding his wounded heart.

"And yet you lived through situations that ordinary espers could never hoped to survive... how very odd of you."

"For your information, there's no such thing as an 'ordinary esper' "

For some reason, although they were exchanging simple words like a normal conversation. An intense amount of demeaning atmosphere seemed to flow within the tone of their every word.

...Now that I think about it, the things they talked about was nothing close to normal.

"Right, right. Anyway, here's the thing: The research of AIM technology in Academy City has been improving in several ways." Wilfred slowly explained "And by 'improving', I didn't mean it the same way like a development of a new type of gaming console or a portable microwave... Hah! Who am I kidding, there's no such thing as a portable microwave."

"Actually, there are. It was one of the most favored home appliances in Academy City because of its usefulness in outdoor cooking activities."

"...Really? Portable microwaves exists?-! Holy crap, You're not kidding me, aren't you?"

"Hey, hey! Back to reality! what were you saying about AIM?"

"Simply put, those scientists from Academy City started to make AIM into a proper modern weaponry... And seriously? You have a portable microwave?"

"It's too expensive for a commoner like me! Anyway, since this is Academy City we're talking about, I guess it's possible. What kind of weapon was it?"

"Some kind of a gas grenade, I think."

"A... gas grenade? Which part of it is based on AIM field? If you were talking about some kind of an EMP grenade based on an AIM field design, I could still understand. But there are a huge gap of difference between the molecule of gas and electrical signal waves."

"How should I know about scientific things like that... But seriously, Portable microwaves? How much does it cost? Or better yet, how the hell did they made something like that? Did they calibrate the capacitors with multiple diodes to create portability function or was there some kind of a special variant in the cavity magnetron that can work within a very low amp that even battery could produce?"

"Didn't you just said you had no idea about anything scientific! Stop contradicting your words you goddamn magician! If you keep this up, you're just waiting for a tsukkomi! Enough with the damn microwaves!"

"Hey, don't you dare insult the almighty tools called microwaves oven! They're an all-in-one machine that can practically do anything! If I had a portable microwave oven, I'll be a one man apocalypse!"

"YOU'RE NOT MAKING ANY SENSE HERE!"

* * *

"Portable microwaves...?" Misaka Mikoto sighed, "you never meet anyone normal."

"It's the story of my life." Kamijou simply shrugged in response and continue sipping his apple juice.

"Wasn't portable microwave oven already sold in convenient stores all across the world several years ago? If he is such a maniac of the thing, how come he didn't notice it in the first place?"

"Apparently, he went underground because several organizations were trying to kill him for some reason. He only surfaced recently after World War III happened and Birdway managed to caught up with him."

"I'll say it again, you never meet anyone normal."

* * *

After several hours of lecture about the creative usage of microwave ovens and several angry shouts of tsukkomis, the discussion finally moved forward to a more productive manner.

"So, about the AIM gas grenade."

"Alright, it was a weapon used to combat magicians. It's basically an anti-magic weapon developed by Academy City."

"How does it work?"

"The gas grenade was made from a conversion of AIM dispersion fields into some form of a combustion gas. The gas itself is not harmful to magicians, but if a magician uses magic even though they already inhaled the gas, then the results would be catastrophic. Remember the angel and Vento in 0930? The concept was more or less the same."

During the event of 30th September, a supernatural event had occurred as a product of science.

One of the God's Right Seat, Vento of the Front had invaded Academy City with the purpose of destroying Imagine Breaker.

In retaliation, the Board Chairman of Academy City activated the "Angel" virus in a certain little girl to turn Kazakiri Hyouka, a manifestation of AIM dispersion field, into Fuse=KAZAKIRI, and artificial angel made through the knowledge of science.

"Vento of the Front used magic within the a massive dispersion field aggregated all around Academy City, and she's spewing blood as a result. Now imagine those aggregation are converted into a gas, then put into small grenade casings that soldiers could carry into any battlefields." Wilfred slowly explained.

Once inhaled, the magician's body will forcibly explode from the inside out as soon as they used magic.

Because the AIM aggregation was turned into the form of a gas, the gas would still retain its effect once it is lodged into a magician's inner organs. It won't be enough to escape the boundary of the gas and then use magic afterwards. The magician who inhaled the gas will have their magic sealed for several hours, maybe days. And if they forced themselves to use magic, their body would tore itself from the inside.

"...It's the ultimate weapon against any magicians." Kamijou trembled.

If information about this weapon spreads out, the entire magic society will be wrapped in chaos. And the already shaken up balance of power within this world would collapse for sure. However, just as Kamijou tries to swallow the news of an upcoming disaster, Wilfred mumbled complainingly about a more terrifying disaster with the tone of a child who had just forgotten to do his homework.

"And those Hunter's Cross somehow got their hands on it. That's how they managed to take out the magicians of Dawn-Colored Sunlight so easily. Those poor bastards didn't stand a chance when the entire hospital was coated in those blighted red gas."

"Eh?" His senses of ultimate misfortune has reached max level in the span of 0.4 second of Wilfred's complain.

"Wait... Come again?" Kamijou's face gradually paled just as fast.

"Hm? The Hunter's Cross somehow got their hands on it. I heard they stole it from an Academy City portable vaults during the archangel attack."

"No, the other part... Wait, that part's important too! Damn it, stop laying out so many information in just three sentences!"

At any rate stop explaining things in the same way Komoe-sensei does in her lecture. My life is on the line here!

"You mean about the red gas that covered the entire hospital?"

"Yeah, that. Although, some clarification about that Hunter... whatever is also necessary. Why did you say there were red gas covering the hospital? There were no gas and the weather was bright clear."

Aside from the blast and smoke of the occasional gunfight that is...

Could it be that Wilfred had mistaken the smoke from the explosions and gunfight as some kind of a red gas?

...No, that's highly doubtful. The magician had proven himself as a no-nonsense in battle, he wouldn't make an amateur mistake like that.

Although there are some occasions when his words are so thick-full of nonsense...

"I see, you didn't see the red gas, eh..." Wilfred sighed exasperatedly, "I thought since you have that right hand... Damn, this is gonna make thing's harder."

"?"

"I don't know the reason why, but it seems like ordinary people cannot see the true form of the gas."

"?-?-?"

"I mean... Look at this."

Wilfred pulled a camera phone out of his pocket.

It showed a video footage of a tv reporter, likely broadcasted by a local news station, interviewing someone about the terrorist attack in the hospital. The footage also showed the entire hospital within the background.

"Now, look at it with this."

Then, he pulled a glass with golden frame from his pocket.

It was clearly not an ordinary glass, as several foreign letters (in language that Kamijou couldn't possibly know anything about) was engraved within its frame. It gave off a feeling of a magic mirror commonly featured in the fairy tales.

Noticing Kamijou questioning stare, Wilfred immediately said.

"Before you ask any question, yes, this see-through lens is a spiritual item, so don't touch it with your right hand. Its function is to 'see through what is hidden'."

"It's a magic detection device." guessed Kamijou.

Wilfred nodded. "Now look at the video through the lens."

As soon as he moved his eyes closer into the footage, Kamijou stifled a gasp.

Through the magic lens, an oddity can be viewed within the video footage.

A red hue of smoke that didn't exist in the previous footage has now appeared as clear as the blue sky.

The red smoke was so thick, one would assume that it was some kind of a deathly and poisonous gas.

And yet, despite for its very peculiar and ominous characteristic, the gas that covered the entire hospital doesn't seem to make the people panic.

_No, that's wrong_. Kamijou came to a conclusion. _It's not that they weren't panic despite the existence of an ominous red gas, it's that they couldn't see the red gas even though they were thick-full covered with it! That's why they don't panic! How can someone be afraid of something they don't even know it exist!_

The smoke was not a poisonous gas spreading through the entire city like a plaguing fog in the movies, nor was it some kind of a natural gas leaked to the surface through some kind of an accident.

It was something worse.

It was a weapon made by the law of science to fight against another set of law that opposed them.

"I present to you, the newest and most efficient weapon of science against magic so far, the Red Chameleon."

* * *

"Red Chameleon? What the hell is this?" muttered Accelerator while looking at the monitor of a computer.

He was inside a control room of some kind with Misaka WORST. Judging from the massive amount of cables connected to another massive amount of computers. It was simply unbelievable that such amount of equipment is located inside a temporary base that was build only 5 days ago.

"That is..." said Misaka WORST as she leaned closer into the monitor, "some kind of a weapon codename, no doubt. Hmm... Misaka wonder what it was for... There's no description about it. The only thing that was written was its name and its classification as a weapon. How very odd."

Academy City has a very tight policy regarding the production and development of weapons.

Because of that, all weapons manufacturers, whether they came from the dark side or an official one known by other countries, have to submit corresponding documents with all informations regarding the weapons and the developers. These information are highly classified to the public, but for some reason or another Accelerator has gained access into the those highly classified information.

But there were no details regarding who made the weapon, or what it could do.

"And yet those higher-ups bastards from Academy City refused to tell us anything, even though they were the ones running to us for help."

Hearing Accelerator grudgingly complained, Misaka WORST couldn't help but grin, "And who was the person who accepted their request even though he's completely unrelated and gain nothing directly from it?"

"Shut up." Accelerator clicked his tongue, "It's not like I don't gain anything from it. If what they said about the possibility of another group of extremists starting another world war is true, then that brat's ordinary life in Academy City will be destroyed."

If another world war starts, then Academy City couldn't remain wholly uninvolved as the winner of the previous war.

"So basically the ruthless and psychotic Accelerator couldn't risk the fact that Last Order's ordinary life would be affected by the coming war. Misaka thinks you have certainly mellowed out by that little girl. Could it be you have finally acknowledged your true self as a lolicon?" said Misaka WORST with her usual devilish grin.

Accelerator glared at her with such intensity, it would turn every sane and normal human to run away in panic, but she merely shrugged her shoulders and walked out of the room into the cold snow.

"Fine, if that's how you're going to do it, then Misaka will come along for the show. Just try not to make too many mess with the blood splatter and all when we found those extremists, Misaka just had this outfit cleaned."

Accelerator said nothing in response and he began to walk outside with the retractable cane supporting his leg, but he frowned when he noticed Misaka WORST had just said something truly odd.

"...How do you have clothes cleaned in a military base?"

* * *

Kamijou Touma and Wilfred Reed walked out of the maintenance room.

They decided they were running out of time, so the fully-detailed explanations can wait for later.

Right now, they were about to begin their counter-attack against the ice spears.

As they slowly walked into the wet and dirty battlefield, the magician spoke in a commanding tone.

"Remember, the weakness of the spears is the souls that became its power source. We're going to need your right hand to destroy it."

"You mean the faces inside the spears? Aren't there a whole bunch of them inside the spears?"

"No, I don't mean the ones screaming and wailing inside of it, that was creepy enough but it's not our target."

As they walked deeper into the sewers, they started seeing several ice fragments that were scattered around the sewers floor. It was unnatural since such a pure black ice could not be produced by dirty sewer water no matter how murky it is.

"We're getting close to the target, see the fragments?"

"Yeah, I see it. What's the target, then?"

Wilfred stopped in his track for a moment, he glanced left and right before finally turning to face Kamijou.

"Listen close, those souls are like people hanged with a rope, feeling the pain of dying every single day but not allowed to. Our target is the rope, cut off the rope then the hanged man will fall."

"Right, so what does the rope looks like?"

"That corpse from earlier. Remember? The Nazi one?"

"You mean the one that suddenly disappeared after you touched it?"

"Yep, that's the one. We have to find it and then use your right hand to destroy it."

So in the end it all comes down to this again, thought Kamijou as he stared into his clenched right hand. The only problem now is finding where the corpse is resting right now and his right hand will take care of the rest.

"The corpse from before disappeared somewhere, so where is it now?"

"Ah, that. That corpse is probably walking around the sewer, right now." Wilfred nonchalantly answered in a matter-of-fact manner.

Kamijou screamed in response to the frightening piece of information.

"WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! Wait a sec! What do you mean walking around?-! This isn't a zombie movie! So why is there suddenly an undead walking around the sewer?-!"

"Listeeennnnnn, corpses don't just disappear. It's obvious that if someone didn't move it anywhere then the only possibility left was that the corpse suddenly infused itself with magic and then went off somewhere. Use your common sense, Kamijou."

"THAT'S NOT COMMON SENSE! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU JUST SAID?-! THERE'S NOT A SINGLE OUNCE OF COMMON SENSE IN THAT SENTENCE!"

"You done complaining?"

"I still have a loooooooottttt more of it where that came from."

"Well, too bad, postpone it for now. I'll hear the rest later. Company's here."

A cracking sound has echoed around the damp sewers.

The fragments of ice around them began to form the ice spears the two are ever familiar with.

In just half a minute, all the fragments has gathered into fourty .

"...Hey, Kamijou, listen."

"What?"

"There are still 30 seconds span before the ice spears fully manifest and began attacking, so I'll be as fast as I can: That corpse is close."

"How do you know?"

"Because the corpse also act as an operator for the magic. If you compare it to the military, it's like a laser targeting system for missile launcher. The fragments of ice didn't form itself even though we were already close, right? That means back then the radius between the operator and the weapon was not close enough for the operator to activate the magic. My best guess is that corpse is probably 800 meters with this area as the center. Damn it, 15 seconds left."

"What are you going to do?" Kamijou anxiously asked.

Wilfred answered while glaring into the ice spears that has yet reached its full power.

"I'll distract those spears, keep them from separating so you can concentrate on finding that corpse. While the spell activated, the corpse will be unable to move even an inch from its hiding spot. Finding where it is, is the hard part, I doubt it would be easy, but that's the only option if we want to survive."

Hearing such an outrageous plan, Kamijou retorted violently, "wait a minute! Didn't you say you can't use magic because of that AIM grenade before? How are you going to stop them without magic?-!"

At the same time, the unholy faces that silhouetted the spears also began to appear. A fearsome scream began to rang out from the spears, signaling the manifestation of the sinners and the start of their assault.

With a fearless smile, Wilfred pulled his coat and drew his strange firearm. Seemingly unaffected by their shrieking screams, Wilfred forcefully pulled Kamijou's collar, making him fall several steps behind the magician.

Just as Kamijou about to scream in protests, he noticed the magician had put himself between Kamijou and the spears.

"...You..." Kamijou muttered in surprise.

"I don't need magic, I got ammo. Now GO!"

The magician that has lost his power and has become a normal human began to clash against the numerous magical spears that could pierce even the hardest of steel.

* * *

Kamijou Touma looked back into the corner behind him where sounds of gunshots and death chilling echo of screams could be heard.

Abandoning someone for the sake of his own survival, that was not his style of doing things.

But time is running out. And for both of their survivals, one second wasted arguing would mean one second closer to their deaths.

_Have to hurry!_

He clicked his tongue, clenched his right fist, and continued to run into the sewers following the instructions the magician had given him in a hurry.

Three minutes have passed since Kamijou had left Wilfred into the swarm of magic spears.

Even though it was such a short time, it felt like a whole day had gone pass him.

There were no guarantees that the magician who had lost his power could last another minute against them.

And yet, although Kamijou had followed the magician's instructions about the possible locations of the corpse inside the vast sewers, there were no signs of it appearing anywhere.

He arrived into a part of the sewers where the path has formed something similar to a crossroad.

_According to his description, this is already the last possible location. Where is this corpse? Damn it! Where the hell is it?-!_

He turned his head into left and right, looking for every nook and crannies he could have missed and still he could find nothing. Kamijou's unease rapidly grew as every second passed.

_Don't tell me it stopped its spell and moved elsewhere. Damn it! If that's the case then his instructions would be useless!_

If he doesn't find it soon then what the magician did would all be for naught.

If he doesn't find it soon then someone will have to pay for his failure.

The thought of someone dying to protect him made Kamijou gritted his teeth.

But just as Kamijou about to fall into despair, he then saw a shadow creeping from one of the corners.

The ray of hope has finally shown itself into the unlucky Kamijou Touma.

_Is that the corpse?-! Hold on, isn't this turn of event a little bit too good to be true? Lucky! …Huh, now that I think of it, I don't get to say that a lot… Uooohh! Could it be that this Kamijou Touma has finally earned some measure of good luck thanks to his action of saving the world?-! Thank you God!_

Sadly, the light in his face dissipates in the face of the truth.

It was merely a sewer rat making itself at home in eating some leftover waste in the sewers.

_FUKOUUUU DAAAA!_

Feeling his hope crushed, Kamijou had a sudden urge to scream and kick the rat violently to vent his anger.

But he stopped his trail of thoughts when he realized what the rat was biting behind a small and cleverly hidden passageway.

It is not a normal leftover waste being dumped and then eaten by vermins.

But it is also not the corpse.

Or at least, it's merely just a part of it.

"A HUMAN ARM?-!"

Due to his surprise, Kamijou loudly voiced out the object that the rats were furiously biting.

Their target is a walking undead corpse that has been magically tuned into the binder of souls that formed the evil spears.

Kamijou Touma has forgotten.

Wilfred Reed has forgotten.

They forgot the fact that their target is an undead. A dead man.

And thus,_ **it would feel no pain if it has to detach its own body.**_

"That thing cut itself apart to avoid detection?-!"

He doesn't know if the corpse was designed to be that way or if it has its own thoughts even after death.

_The problem right now is whether destroying the spell in only one part of the body with Imagine Breaker will be enough to stop the evil spears or if I had to destroy all parts of the body to fully end the curse. Judging from how it separated itself, seems like I have to destroy all of them._

If that is the case then the chances of destroying the corpse in such a sort time will be much more difficult. Not to mention, Kamijou doesn't know how many body parts the corpse has detached from its body. With the low chance of survival and the low odds that Kamijou could actually find all of the corpse's body parts, it would be much quicker and logical to find a way to escape, now that someone has already held off the entire hordes of spears.

But that sort of details doesn't matter to Kamijou.

Instead of falling deeper into despair, Kamijou grinned as if he just saw a light of hope.

_Then I just have to find all of the body parts quick and destroy it, right?_

As long as there is a chance to save someone else, no matter how low the chances are or how short the time limit is, he will surely take that chance.

And besides, the thought of running away to safety while another person is fighting is something Kamijou Touma truly hated.

_After all, abandoning someone for the sake of his own survival... That is not Kamijou Touma's style of doing things!_

With that determination, Kamijou dashed into the arm where it was being grotesquely eaten by the sewer's inhabitant.

* * *

"Why are there no girls around when I was acting cool like that? And to top it off, the only one to see that is a guy that can't even do a simple errand quickly. How unlucky."

Even though Wilfred said that jokingly, his condition is no laughing matter.

To put it in a simple sentence, the amount of damage he took was similar to someone who had just been hit by both a truck and a car at the same time.

The fact that he was still standing despite the damage was not because of some miraculously high endurance or anything like that.

It was because of a simple routine he had always done before he went off to do his usual work with a ridiculously high mortality rate.

_Thank God I always put up an Aegis spell every single day in the morning to increase my threshold. I'm lucky since the AIM grenade didn't undo the spell I had casted before I was affected by it. If it weren't for that I probably would have been dead 6 times in a row._

Several moments ago Wilfred was not able to dodge a spear and hit him straight in the chest. Normally, the spear would have pierced his whole stomach and turn him into skewered meat but he was merely thrown back several meters from his original position.

Not that he came out of it unharmed, though.

_With the Aegis, my body was able to withstand several artillery shots head on at Russia, but I'm coughing up blood and my stomach felt like it was put inside a blender. All this just from a single strike of a spear? This is downright ridiculous._

Besides the obvious wounds in his chest, his body was also littered with a straight-lined bleeding wounds. Most likely produced when the spears managed to graze his body in a high-speed hit-and-dodge battle. It seems like the blow he received to the chest caused the most serious damage.

Looking into the three spears lunging at him, he fired his revolver accurately into the tip of the spears. The power of the revolver was renowned to be powerful enough to blow a person's head off, but it merely threw the spears off-target for a moment.

Wilfred quickly dodged to the side, three holes has been made in the place he stood 0,5 seconds ago.

While the spears broke itself after lunging, another quickly replaced it in the next two seconds.

It's a battle of attrition with Wilfred is on the losing side.

There is only one possible way he could get out of that situation alive. And that is for Kamijou Touma to quickly dispatch the corpse that became the source of power for the cursed souls.

To be honest, Wilfred is not the type of person that likes to sacrifice himself for others or the type of person that rely on others, but he is not someone prideful enough to declare that he would overcome all of this with his own power. Especially if his power was sealed by the science of Academy City.

If he still possesses his power to cast magic he would not rely on Kamijou to destroy the magic within the corpse. In fact, if he had his magic, it is possible that he would use Kamijou to take his position right now as a decoy so that he could destroy the corpse himself or to escape into the surface abandoning Kamijou to his fate.

That is the difference between Kamijou Touma and Wilfred Reed.

The magician, Wilfred Reed, is a much more practical person than Kamijou.

Wilfred is the type of person that will abandon others if it means his survival.

He is also the type of person that will fearlessly face any danger for another person if it means accomplishing his objective.

Right now, in order for him to survive and accomplish his objective, putting himself into this mortal danger is the only option.

Looking at this hopeless situation, Wilfred smiled wryly.

"Hurry it up, Kamijou. I don't want this sewer jam-packed with rats to be my grave."

* * *

"Gotcha!"

With the sound of breaking glass, Kamijou dispelled the magic embedded inside the corpse's right leg.

"This is the third one. How many parts did it cut itself into?-! This is endless."

Things have been easy for him to destroy the body parts since the entire body have to be immobile in order to work the magic.

The difficulty lies in finding them.

There are several hints that Kamijou managed to figure out regarding the corpse patterns.

First of all, the body part of the corpse couldn't stray away from the 800 meter radius of the spell the magician had mentioned earlier.

Second, the body parts were located in well-hidden locations surrounding the area. Which means, somehow, the corpse was already programmed to cut itself apart and hid its body parts into specific parts of the sewers. A perfect and cunning ploy.

But there is still a weakness that Kamijou could exploit.

_That's the third, so where is the next one?_

Kamijou looked around nervously for a certain sign.

And then he found one.

_There it is! __I was right. If I follow it, then the next body parts will be there!_

He suddenly sprinted following a certain route as if he had seen a revelation.

Kamijou Touma doesn't have any complicated reason or ideology to fight.

The life of a person was at stake.

That alone is reason enough for him to clench his fist.

* * *

**Again, I'm very sorry with the long delays. Even though I got the plot all lined up, it's still hard to put it into words. Not to mention with the entrance exams, finding a dorm, and... You know what? I'll just stop making excuses.**

**About NT 5, I just read it recently, and I'm thoroughly overjoyed and saddened by the cliffhanger Kamachi-sensei left us. And I gotta say, Thor was the kind of character I pictured for Wilfred, and since I was planning to make a story that's compatible to the canon storyline, it's going to make it much more difficult to follow the original plot of my story with Thor around... And let's not mention Frenda coming back from the dead, call me insane, but I think it had something to do with Kakine Teitoku, which was also coming back from the dead.**

**Well, I guess I'll put this story into hiatus until NT 6. Looking forward to Ichihanaransai and the new character, Fraulein and her mysterious just-won't-die powers.**

**...By the way, anyone wants to bet on who was the girl on Kamijou's back on the prologue? Is it Fraulein? Or is it Thor in girl disguise? I'll bet it's the latter.**


End file.
